English Soccer

I’ve always dreamed of playing professional football, so when the new director of Calverdale Ladies wants to sign me, I should be ecstatic. But renowned billionaire playboy Gabe Rivers doesn’t just want me as his new striker. I need to get to the top because of my talent on the pitch, not in the sack. So I can’t be another prize for Gabe. Even if he is infuriatingly gorgeous.

The press say I’m the wild child of women’s football, and now a tabloid journalist’s blackmailing me. No wonder I needed distraction in the shape of Alex, the men’s team’s new Scottish goalie. It was a one-night stand: fun and done. I don’t do commitment–and he’s old enough to be my dad. But there’s something different about Alex…

As an energetic six-year-old, Beth Mead was taken to a weekly local football session by her mum. Finding a passion for the game, Beth often found herself as the only girl on the team. Despite being laughed at for this, she let her natural talent do the talking. At 16, Mead was signed to Sunderland where she made a name for herself as a top goalscorer. Putting off offers from Arsenal until she completed her university degree, Mead continued juggling work, study and football until she graduated. She then signed to Arsenal and earned a place as a Lioness, representing the England national team.

Born into a footballing family, Leah Williamson followed in the footsteps of her mother who cut her hair short so she could play with the boys. Williamson began playing at Scot Youth, a boys' team in Bletchley, quickly becoming their star striker. Williamson went on to join Rushden & Diamonds Centre of Excellence, before joining Arsenal at the age of nine, where she has remained, making her senior team debut in 2014 at the age of 17. Representing England since 2010, Williamson has played at an international level since the age of 13, and was made permanent captain of the Lionesses in 2022.

In Soccer in American Culture: The Beautiful Game’s Struggle for Status, G. Edward White seeks to answer two questions. The first is why the sport of soccer failed to take root in the United States when it spread from England around much of the rest of the world in the late 19th and 20th centuries. The second is why the sport has had a significant renaissance in America since the last decade of the 20th century, to the point where it is now the fourth largest participatory sport in the United States and is thriving at the high school, college, and professional levels.

From one of Granta's Best of Young British Novelists, an exquisitely crafted coming-of-age novel set in the high-stakes world of English soccer - for fans of Nick Hornby and The Art of Fielding.

In this hilarious reboot of Pride and Prejudice, Megan McKnight is a soccer star with Olympic dreams. When her Southern belle mother secretly enters her as a debutante for the 2016 deb season in their hometown of Dallas, she's furious - and has no idea what she's in for.

They say that if you want to live a long and happy life, don’t support Newcastle United. So join me, as I lead you on a journey through another hall of shame, littered with players who were paid far too much, and who gave the fans far too little in return. If you need an antidote to the many times Newcastle United have ever let you down and made you think "We'll laugh about this seven-to-three defeat in a few years", then this audiobook will go a long way to healing those wounds.

Lainey Lukas has sacrificed everything - sleep, family, carbs, a life - to earn her spot as the top player and captain of the Seattle Falcons women's soccer team. She's determined to lead her team to a national championship and finally earn the sport the respect it deserves, and nothing will throw her off her game. When Lainey's hero Gabe Havelak, star of the Seattle Surge, crashes her team's first press conference - making the Falcons look like a joke to the local media and humiliating Lainey in the process - she's hell-bent on revenge.

For legions of soccer fans, the players on the US Women's National Soccer Team are the game's standard-bearers. Together their accomplishments include four World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals. Within five years of their inaugural match in 1985, the team was the best women's soccer team on the planet. But its rise was neither easy nor harmonious. They faced discrimination and unequal treatment, most notably from their governing bodies, FIFA and U.S. Soccer.

Did Wayne Fereday ruin your life? Was Silvio Maric directly responsible for your high dentist bills due to the constant gnashing and grinding of your molars? Did Billy Askew's hair give you nightmares, or did the merest mention of Alain Boumsong's name have the same effect as the aftermath of a Vindaloo? Then this is the book you've been waiting for.

In this compelling new book, relying on original reporting from the most dangerous corners of Rio to the halls of power in Washington, DC, Dave Zirin examines how sports and politics are colliding in remarkable fashion in Brazil, opening up an international conversation on the culture, economics, and politics of sports.

Rocky Race is living the dream: she's won a scholarship to a prestigious high school in Los Angeles, where she gets to play soccer and train for going pro. She's got an amazing best friend, and a supportive mum and brother back home in the UK. But living away from home isn't easy, and fitting in with American kids in high school is scary and new. Not to mention she has to keep her grades up if she wants to stay on the pitch! Will Rocky survive high school?

Successful, high-profile sports agent Matt Kingston thinks he can handle anything. Then soccer player Parker Speedman shows up at his door. She is young and gorgeous, has natural talent, and is looking for a team. She’s also a hothead with a punchy past who floored her last coach on live TV. Despite his misgivings, Matt agrees to be both her agent and her coach. Professional common sense says she’s off-limits. But what can he say about the raw attraction between them?

Tracie Martin is the queen of the Wags and this is going to be her year. The fight may be on for England to regain its rightful place in the history books. But Tracie knows that the true battle of the World Cup will be fought in Gucci and in the pages of her favorite tabloids. Only with Tracie's knack for ending up in the papers for all the wrong reasons, she finds herself getting more column inches than the England captain as she becomes the only person who can save England's dreams of World Cup triumph. But can she warn off the evil crime syndicate threatening to destroy everything?

Gang leader Billy Evans has ruled his turf in London for more years than he cares to remember. So long in fact, that even he realizes that things have become a little too easy. So when an old adversary reappears on the scene, Billy sees a golden opportunity to not only reassert his authority, but to have some much needed fun. Yet all is not as it appears, for this new enemy is far more powerful than any Billy has ever had to deal with before, and he's about to discover that he's finally pushed his luck too far.

Seattle heiress Mackenzie Dupont is treating herself to a single-girl honeymoon in Mexico and a desire to relinquish her innocence to a gorgeous one-night stand. Fake names. True pleasure. But when she wakes up alone, Mackenzie realizes just how much anger is left in her broken heart. Suffering a tragic personal loss, pro soccer player Slade Rodriguez has his reasons for vanishing without a good-bye. Right or wrong, he’s blaming the beautiful and infuriating stranger he never wants to see again. They’re both in for a shock when Mackenzie shows up as his new personal assistant.

Fresh off her football victory as QB, Alex Carlisle is on cloud nine. But with football season ending, Alex is ready to get back on the field in the spring. Ideally she'd like to play soccer again, but as she's about to sign up for tryouts, she hears word around the school that they're planning to cut athletic funding, and girls' soccer might be first to go. Now, Alex knows playing soccer is about more than just healthy competition. It's about fighting for their right to play.

Who thought writing "LOSERS" on a menu could lead to an affair of love notes? It didn't start out as love. How could it when I vowed never to fall in love.... Reef Burton, the sexy blue-eyed football player, and his mates are definitely not "Losers", yet writing it on a menu gave me reason to smile. Only it didn't make it to the trash. He returns to the restaurant where I work wearing his killer smile.

Twelve-year-old Jeff Michaels, son of a Philadelphia TV sports reporter, is just learning to play soccer on the new sixth-grade team at his middle school. Andrea Carillo has fought her way onto the squad, but the coach doesn’t think girls should play with boys, so she’s riding the bench with Jeff - even though she’s one of the best players.