Soccer History

Barcelona and Real Madrid: two of the most powerful and popular clubs in world football, and one of the world's most bitter sporting rivalries. Going far beyond the boundaries of just sport alone, this is a rivalry at the heart of Spanish life, taking in politics and culture and splitting a country in two. El Clasico gets to the heart of that rivalry, investigating the intrigue, the larger-than-life characters, the key flashpoints and their consequences.

In this fascinating and exhaustively researched book, the first of its kind in the English language, Tom Williams brings to life French football’s chequered coming of age over the last 40 years. Featuring exclusive interviews with great figures of the French game such as Alain Giresse, Jean-Pierre Papin, Emmanuel Petit and Blaise Matuidi, and with a cast of characters that also includes Michel Platini, Thierry Henry, Karim Benzema, Chris Waddle and Lionel Messi, it's a book no football fan will want to miss.

With breathtaking scope and unparalleled knowledge of the game, The Age of Football explores soccer's vital role in our social, political, and economic lives: its connections to social discord in the Middle East and political division in Europe; the reasons behind its surprising surge in popularity in China, India, and the United States; and its use (and misuse) in the global advance of equality and human rights. Goldblatt proves that whether you call it football or soccer, you can't make sense of the modern world without understanding its most popular sport.

Set against the backdrop of an American town that without its consent had become a vast social experiment, Outcasts United follows a pivotal season in the life of the Fugees and their charismatic coach. Warren St. John documents the lives of a diverse group of young people as they miraculously coalesce into a band of brothers, while also drawing a fascinating portrait of a fading American town struggling to accommodate its new arrivals.

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.

Introducing "The Midnight Whistle: 50 Epic Bedtime Stories From The World Of Soccer" – the ultimate bedtime companion for soccer enthusiasts! Here's why this book is an absolute must-have for a soccer fan! Immersive Adventures: Dive into 50 captivating tales set in the thrilling world of soccer, where every match is a chance for heroes to rise and legends to be born.

Before agents and TV mega-rights ushered in multi-millionaire players, footballers’ wages were capped, with even the game's biggest names earning barely more than a plumber or electrician. Footballing legends shared a bond of borderline penury with the crowds they entertained on Saturday afternoons, on pitches that were far away from the pristine lawns of the modern era. Instead of the sports cars driven by today's top players, the stars of yesteryear travelled to matches on public transport and returned to homes as modest as those of their supporters.

Cristiano and Leo is the fascinating account of the lives and rivalry between two of the best footballers to ever play the game, Ronaldo and Messi. The rivalry between Ronaldo and Messi has defined football to a generation of fans - everyone has an opinion on who is the greatest. Do you prefer Ronaldo, whose work ethic and physique have been honed for one purpose - scoring goals? Or Messi, whose superhuman natural talent means he can do the seemingly impossible with a football?

Each November, about a hundred people with paper poppies pinned to their coats gather around a memorial in Edinburgh. They're there to commemorate the more than a dozen members of the local football team, Heart of Midlothian - almost every member of its starting lineup and many of its backup players - who went to war. A Bigger Field Awaits Us tells the little-known but poignant story of a group of Scottish athletes and their fans who went to war together - and the stories of the few who made it home.

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 The Title, Scott Murray delivers a lively, cherry-picked history of the country's football narrative through the prism of the old First Division. Rich with humour yet underpinned with solid research, this is a glorious ramble across English football's varied terrain. With as much about Preston, Burnley, Wolves, Portsmouth and West Brom as the likes of Arsenal, Liverpool and Manchester United, we learn the less well-known stories the sport has to tell, such as the plight of Glossop - the smallest club to ever play top-flight football.

For the Redknapp clan, football is a family concern; it's the family business. Me, Family and the Making of a Footballer is a deeply moving, heartfelt and beautifully personal account of growing up as the second son of Harry Redknapp, and also an enchanting love letter to football.

The 1923 FA Cup final—aka the White Horse final—was the first football match played at the British Empire Exhibition Stadium. Although best-remembered for non-playing reasons that afternoon marked the historic opening chapter of the stadium’s long and eventful history, of the stadium soon to be known simply as Wembley. Nige Tassell chooses 100 matches—from the well known to the unusual—that have shaped Wembley's legacy and tells a lively and original alternative history of the past 100 years of football, and of Britain.

Women's soccer is a game that has often been relegated to the margins in a world fixated on gender differences above passion and talent. It is a game that could attract 50,000 fans to a stadium in the 1920s, was later banned by England's Football Association grounds for being "unsuitable for females," and has emerged as a global force in the modern era with the US Women's National Team leading the charge. A Woman's Game traces this arc of changing attitudes, increasing professionalism, and international growth.

This ambitious and fascinating history considers why, in the space of sixty years between 1850 and 1910, football grew from a marginal and unorganised activity to become the dominant winter entertainment for millions of people around the world. The book explores how the world’s football codes—soccer, rugby league, rugby union, American, Australian, Canadian and Gaelic—developed as part of the commercialised leisure industry in the nineteenth century.

Foot-ball: Its History for Five Centuries by M. Shearman and J.E. Vincent, narrated by Gary Middleton, explores the fascinating evolution of football (soccer and rugby) from its medieval origins to the early modern era. This comprehensive historical account delves into the sport’s early rules, traditions, and development across centuries, shedding light on how it grew into the beloved global phenomenon it is today.

¿De qué hablamos cuando hablamos del futbol latinoamericano?¿Se trata, apenas, de una coincidencia geográfica? El futbol latinoamericano no existe ni como un relato único, ni como un desarrollo homogéneo, ni como un modo colectivo de jugarlo o de mirarlo, ni siquiera como un origen común y mucho menos como un destino. Narrar una historia de ese futbol exige construir una historia de la complejidad, las divergencias y los desgarramientos que lo fueron inventando.

Are you searching for a book that will inspire and empower the young women in your life? Look no further than "The Most Inspirational Women's Soccer Stories Of All Time". This collection of over 30 captivating stories is the perfect way to celebrate the power of women in sports and fuel their passion for soccer.

El Real Madrid tiene más de 150 millones de seguidores en las redes sociales. Su estandarte: una camiseta blanca. Su misión: trascender a través de la victoria. Esa es su gracia y su condena. Una religión para quienes lo aman; una mentira para quienes lo odian.

Narrated by the daughter of one of the team members, Janice Barton, with unprecedented access to the secrets and insights of the first ever woman's team, this is a multi-generational story celebrating the power of a group of women who refused to accept the status quo - revealing how the events of 1971 shaped mother and daughter's lives both personally and professionally.