Sports Soccer

Cristiano Ronaldo is the world's top soccer player. But what happens when he's not scoring on the pitch? High-interest details of his fascinating life will enthrall listeners.

The national soccer teams of England and Germany have a rivalry spanning decades. What made the teams fierce competitors? How are both countries' fans involved in keeping this rivalry going?

The national soccer teams of Algeria and Egypt have a rivalry spanning decades. What made the teams fierce competitors? How are both countries' fans involved in keeping this rivalry going?

The national soccer teams of Portugal and Spain have a rivalry spanning decades. What made the teams fierce competitors? How are both countries' fans involved in keeping this rivalry going?

Ruud Gullit knows better than anyone else that to understand soccer you have to understand strategy. When he started playing soccer, his only "strategy" was to get the ball, outrun everyone else to the other end of the field, and score. At first it served him well, but as he advanced through the sport, he learned that it takes much more than speed to make a winning team.

Mohamed Salah has competed at the FIFA World Cup and the Olympics. His speed, smarts, and skill have made him a top player on soccer fields around the world. Meet this top-scoring footballer as he strikes at victory.

Fascinating for supporters looking to understand their club’s and its rivals’ strategy and methods, and those curious about finance and power in football, Who Owns Football? reveals how the game's custodians operate. Football club owners can take teams to the heights of the Champions League or financial oblivion. Still, in a world of super leagues, rapidly escalating wages, transfer fees, Financial Fair Play and an increasingly profitable women’s game, they tread a precarious tightrope.

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.

Imagine setting up your own Sunday League football club and seeing it rise to the lofty heights of the Champions League, taking all the risky, rewarding, sometimes dodgy and increasingly big money decisions along the way. Comedian and financial idiot Kevin Day and football accountant and financial expert Kieran Maguire have imagined just that with all the humour and savage insight of their massively popular The Price of Football podcast.

The full story of the man who brought unprecedented - and since unmatched - success to Liverpool FC. Bob Paisley was the quiet man in the flat cap who swept all domestic and European opposition aside and produced arguably the greatest club team that Britain has ever known. The man whose Liverpool team won trophies at a rate-per-season that dwarfs Sir Alex Ferguson’s achievements at Manchester United and who remains the only Briton to lead a team to three European Cups.

This is a high-level overview of the areas that can take a player from being a benchwarmer to MVP. In a day and age where many so-called experts' advice is to improve your conditioning, get more touches, try harder, and want it more, this audiobook stands out on delivering the steps to turn any player into a great performer.

Happy Feet is the ultimate resource for soccer parents. Written by best-selling author, Dan Blank, it will give you a better understanding of the game, its rules and terminology. This remarkable book includes links to seven excellent videos that help explain soccer's more mysterious concepts such as offside, the advantage rule and systems of play. By the end of Section 1, parents with no soccer background will have a working vocabulary of this strange sport and an understanding of all its moving pieces.

At the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, Germany, the last thing Adolf Hitler expected was to see a black man compete and win. But Jesse Owens didn't just win. He was dominant in the track and field events, winning four gold medals and helping to set a world record. Now listeners can witness one of the most iconic moments in sports history as Owens proves that people of all races can compete and win at the Olympic games.

Watford Forever is the remarkable account of Elton John’s ownership of Watford FC, and its transformational journey to the top of the First Division under iconic manager Graham Taylor, who was, in the words of award-winning journalist John Preston, “as traditional as Elton was unconventional.” Inspiring, funny, and ultimately heartrending, this is a tribute to soccer’s unlikeliest duo as Elton and Taylor—a straight-talking former fullback with literally no interest in rock music—both beat the odds and their personal demons to save a club and a community.

As FIFA's most decorated female football manager and a former player, Sarina Wiegman has led both the Netherlands and England women's national teams to historic victories. She stands out as a true pioneer in the game, and her coaching philosophy has earned her a reputation as one of the most successful coaches in football history. This personal account of Sarina's life journey begins with her early passion for football, and covers her key moments on the pitch as well as her ascension to the top of the coaching world.

In 1967, a 13-year-old girl named Maureen Wilton set the women's world marathon record, running 26.2 miles in 3:15:23. Nicknamed “Little Mo” by her track teammates, Wilton was already a headline-making athlete. But her accomplishment was greeted with controversy and misogynistic accusations of cheating. Wilton receded into the background, left the sport, and kept her achievement secret. This is the story of what happened and how Maureen found her way back to the sport decades later as the mother of a young runner herself.

Passé au travers des mailles du filet de la formation française, Antoine Griezmann n'a jamais porté le maillot d'un club hexagonal. Jugé trop frêle, il a dû s'exiler en Espagne, à la Real Sociedad, pour accomplir son rêve de gamin et devenir footballeur professionnel. Désormais star incontestée de l'Atlético de Madrid et fer de lance de l'équipe de France, le meilleur joueur de l'Euro 2016 incarne la nouvelle génération bleue.

Why does an international footballer with the World at his feet decide to take his own life? On November 10, 2009, the German national goalkeeper Robert Enke stepped in front of a passing train. He was 32 years old. Viewed from the outside, Enke had it all. Here was a professional goalkeeper who had played for a string of Europe's top clubs, including Jose Mourinho's Benfica and Louis Van Gaal's Barcelona. Enke was destined to be his country's first choice for years. But beneath the veneer of success lay a darker story.

How do you win the world cup? Godlike genius or the focus of a disappointed nation's fury—the world's most prestigious tournament makes or breaks a national coach. Only 20 managers have guided their team to World Cup glory, so what are their secrets? From revolutionary tactics to hare-brained schemes, this book searches for the keys to the most exclusive club in international football.

A New Formation is not a book about football and racism. Jacobs and his co-contributors—including authors Musa Okwonga and Aniefiok Ekpoudom and sports broadcaster Jeanette Kwakye MBE—eschew the standard frameworks of trauma and oppression that are foisted upon Black narratives and seek to move beyond discussions of diversity, identity and representation. Featuring interviews with legendary players such as Ian Wright, Anita Asante and Andy Cole, they draw upon broader social and cultural history to examine Black footballers in contexts larger than themselves.