Football Soccer

The use of analytics in sport is now well embedded. Marginal gains, the bedrock upon which the cycling coach Dave Brailsford built his greatest successes, are cornerstones of most sports nowadays. But, until recently, that did not apply to the biggest sport in the world. Not in soccer. It was as though this simplest of sports is too complicated for statistics. Or that only one statistic counts, the number of times the ball hits the back of the net. "The only statistic that counts", there’s an often used and annoying stock term.

In the middle-grade story, Soccer Is Everything, Pedro and Esperanza’s love of soccer brings frustration as their poor ocean-side town in Mexico has little opportunity for their talents. Alejandro Vargas, fresh from an unfair prison sentence, gives them opportunity and hope as he forms the first team in the town’s new league. Losing is not in his playbook, and he will accept only those players willing to give the team their all. But a girl on an all-boys team is not in coach’s playbook either. Pedro’s earlier experience has shown him not to bypass a girl’s talent.

If you want something done, ask a busy person. Kate Conner could kill whoever first said that. As if the full-time mom, part-time demon hunter didn’t have enough to do, she’s now been given a third job—as headmistress at a special academy for up-and-coming slayers. Kate’s first charge? Her own teenage daughter Allie, who thanks to her unique heritage, has more power than either she or Kate understands. And definitely more than either knows how to use.

In a tiny, decaying aluminum smelting town in southern Tajikistan, a short drive from a raging war zone, Afghanistan take on Palestine in the first Asian qualifier for 2014's World Cup in Brazil. Every player on both teams is risking something by playing: Their careers, their families, even their lives. Thirty-One Nil is the story of how footballers from all corners of the globe begin their journey chasing a place at the World Cup Finals.

In his trademark tell-it-like-it-is style, Chris sets his sights on 25 aspects of the modern game that need fixing. From ridiculous rules and feckless agents to dreaded VAR and abusive fans, no subject is out of bounds. Discover which managers Sutton slams for giving bland post-match interviews, which clubs are fleecing their fans and why he believes Messi and Ronaldo aren't as good as Best and Maradona.

True Genius is the definitive family-backed account of his remarkable career published to coincide with what would have been his 75th birthday. The games, the goals, the glory. This is the untold story. Written by celebrated Manchester United author Wayne Barton, this biography goes into unparalleled depth to tell the complete story for the first time of how the lad from Cregagh, Northern Ireland, became the game's first superstar. Barton has trawled the archives and spoken to a host of former team-mates, managers, friends and close family to tell his story.

The Premier League is the most commercially successful football league in history, the self-proclaimed 'best league in the world'. But success has come at a cost, unbalancing the English game to a profound and damaging degree. In this revealing and eye-opening analysis, leading economist Mark Gregory reveals the breadth and depth of the problems facing our national men's game, and shows us a way to bring football home for good.

Viele von uns sind Kinder der Bundesliga. Unsere Erinnerungen an die Fußball Bundesliga reichen von den engen Meisterschaften der Bayern mit Borussia Mönchengladbach in den 70ern dann mit dem HSV und Werder Bremen und den 11er von Kutzop bis in die letzten 15 Jahren mit den engen Titelkämpfen mit dem BvB. Wir hörten die Bundesliga im Freibad oder beim Auto waschen im Radio oder pünktlich um 18.00 Uhr mit Heribert Faßbender, Reinold Beckmann oder Jessy Wellmer. 61 Jahre Fußball Bundesliga. Fast 57.000 Tore.

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.

Once upon a time football was run by modest local businessmen. Today it is the plaything of billionaire oligarchs, staggeringly wealthy from oil and gas, from royalty, or from murkier sources. But who are these new masters of the universe? Where did all their money come from? And what do they want with our beautiful game? In The Billionaires Club James Montague delves deeper than anyone else has dared, to tell this story for the first time.

Carefully leveled text engages young listeners in learning about the basics of the sport of soccer. Age-appropriate critical thinking questions help build nonfiction learning skills.

When Karma and her fellow Suburban Moms take on troublemakers, things spin out of control and somebody dies. Accidentally. It starts when a speeding car hits Karma's daughter, and the cops can't find the driver. The Moms find and punish the culprit before the police get a chance. Is this justice or vigilantism? Then teenagers expose themselves to little girls on the playground. They definitely need to be taught a lesson...Trouble escalates when an obnoxious neighbor turns out to be a wife-beater, and the moms go full-on vigilante.

The story of FIFA's fall from grace has it all: power, betrayal, revenge, sports stars, hustlers, corruption, sex and phenomenal quantities of money, all set against exotic locales stretching from Caribbean beaches to the formal staterooms of the Kremlin and the sun-blasted streets of Doha, Qatar.

In Robbie Fowler: My Life in Football, Robbie takes us on a journey through the games that have shaped his career and thinking about football, from Hillsborough to Istanbul, via the cup treble, that celebration, all those goals, Houllier, Benitiez, Klopp and the rest. Personal and revealing, Robbie's stories come from a life spent inside the game. He invites us inside the dressing room, sharing stories of legendary teammates like Rush, Owen and Gerrard, his love of the Kop, his greatest achievements and his regrets - as well as the money, fame and hoopla that surround the game.

This is a mental training guide, a meditation, for success in soccer. Mental training is an indispensable part of every team's and player's preparation in today's game. It plays a big role in confidence and performance on the field. Numerous studies have been conducted by sports psychologists and applied by top professional clubs, coaches and players worldwide.

The contrast is striking. As the United States Women’s National soccer team has long dominated the sport—winners of four World Cups and four Olympic gold medals—the men’s team has floundered. They failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup and three consecutive Olympics, and have long struggled when facing the world’s best teams. How could a country so dominant in other men’s team sports—and such a global powerhouse in women’s soccer—be so far behind the rest of the world in men’s soccer?

Tras recorrer más de 100 países cubriendo los eventos deportivos más importantes del planeta, Alberto Lati sin duda demostrará porqué el futbol es un fenómeno cultural más complejo de lo que imaginamos, al tiempo que contagiará a los oyentes el gozo de viajar.

Erika Parker-Ward is living the dream—her professional soccer career is on the rise, and she's got her sights set on making the World Cup team for the US. But all of that could be over in a blink now that Erika's been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. Her plan? Keep the diagnosis hush hush by paying for private medical care, but the cost is threatening to bury her alive.

Elizabeth Rusch’s A Greater Goal chronicles how members of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team fought to receive fair treatment and equal pay despite the intense pushback they received from U.S. Soccer, the governing body of soccer in the United States. With a narrative that includes player profiles and vignettes framed from team member perspectives, A Greater Goal illuminates the work, support, and grit needed to be treated with equality in a world that often undervalues the contributions of women.

The first edition of The Price of Football quickly established itself as the go-to guide to understanding football club finance for the serious fan. Kieran Maguire, one of the UK’s top football finance analysts, shows how professional clubs operate as businesses and explains, in non-technical language, how to read, understand, and interrogate club accounts.