Sports Soccer

For 30 år siden var Europas herrefodbold martret af vold og tragedie. Fodbolden var blevet synonym med grove tackling og tilskueruroligheder, der kulminerede med stadiontragedierne på Heysel og Hillsborough. Det stod så slemt til, at Margaret Thatchers britiske regering overvejede af indstille den professionelle fodbold. Det skete ikke, i stedet voksede en ny sport ud af ruinerne. Klubfodbolden blev rigere, dyrere, smukkere, renere, mere højlydt og global, men også mere ulige og forudsigelig.

When Trent Cotchin was handed the reins of Richmond Football Club's team in 2013, he was a 22-year-old star, skilful and fearlessly hard at the ball. Coming off a Brownlow Medal-winning season, he embraced the captaincy and continued his quest to get the most out of himself for the benefit of the club. Yet by the end of 2016, Trent was suffering from serious self-doubt. With nothing to lose and facing down his own fear of failure, Trent put himself on the line in a new way.

Hristo Stoichkov, El Pistolero del legendario Dream Team del FC Barcelona, nos trae su auténtica autobiografía. El máximo goleador de la Copa Mundial de 1994 nos revela su alma sin maquillaje, pretensiones ni cohibiciones. Directo, volcánico y fiel a su imagen de aquella época en la que millones de seguidores admiraban al mágico Nº8.

When a career-ending injury saw former Ireland and Millwall striker Richie Sadlier retire from football at age 24, his life spiralled out of control. Without structure or a sense of purpose, fuelled by a dependency on alcohol, he spent years running from the dark memories and feelings that had haunted him since childhood. Until one day he hit rock bottom and decided to confront his demons.

In the mid-1990s, Kevin Keegan brought sporting romance and expectation of trophies to Newcastle, Sunderland moved the the Stadium of Light backed by a wealthy consortium, Middlesbrough signed one of the best Brazilians of the era and won their first major trophy - even little Darlington had a former safe-cracker turned kitchen magnate in charge, promising the world. The region even provided England's two key players in Euro 96 in Alan Shearer and Paul Gascoigne - the far corner seemed destined to become the centre of England's footballing world. But it never happened.

When Ole Gunnar Solskjaer returned to Old Trafford as caretaker manager midway through the 2018-19 season, he breathed new life into a team that was drifting. In this new and definitive biography, Jamie Jackson investigates why he was the perfect man for the job to bring back the glory days. After the confusion under David Moyes, the stagnation of Louis van Gaal and the growing trauma under Jose Mourinho, Manchester United were a club increasingly struggling to challenge for major honours, something the fans had been accustomed to during the reign of Sir Alex Ferguson.

The Wizards FC was a team of former school friends who - with the help of a few star ringers - slogged their way through mud, skinheads, and Staffordshire bull terriers to win the Edmonton Sunday League. Team captain Ewan Flynn brings alive a world of young men giving it their all on sloping pitches a million miles from the glamour of the Premier League, and officials who volunteer to maintain some sort of order. Along the way, he charts the bittersweet stories of mates who brought success to the Wizards.

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.

A sport unlike any other in the world, football has always been Australia's bellwether. But at a time when politics is increasingly conducted like sports, football is the one institution that's more relevant than ever. And it's Richmond that's out in front of the pack. Before it could win the 2017 premiership, the club had to change how it thought about good leadership.

Pers wunderbare Fußball-Welt: kurzweilig, anekdotenreich und voller unvergesslicher Momente. In England nennt man ihn liebevoll "Big Fucking German" - aber nicht nur mit seiner Körpergröße von exakt einem Meter achtundneunzig ragt Per Mertesacker heraus: Er ist für seine überaus faire Spielweise bekannt, er hat ein feines Gespür für den Raum und ein exzellentes taktisches Verständnis, er ordnet alles dem Erfolg unter. In seiner Autobiographie blickt der Defensiv-Spezialist auf eine einmalige Karriere zurück.

Jimmy Bullard may not have had the perfect hair-do, his Granada Ghia may not have been the flashiest of cars, and he definitely didn't have a string of Page 3 girls trying to sell kiss and tell stories about him to the tabloids. But what he has in spades is a genuine love for The Beautiful Game that few of his peers can match. One of the last graduates from football's old school, Jimmy actually worked in the real world - including as a painter and decorator - before turning pro. Maybe that's why he played football with a smile on his face, always says what's on his mind, and is no stranger to a spot of mischief.

With 19 spells at various clubs in the Football League, Jon Parkin has cut an instantly recognisable figure in English football for the past 20 years. At 6'4", and weighing in as one of football's heavyweights, Parkin has played more than 600 games during his time with Barnsley, Hartlepool, York, Macclesfield Town, Hull City, Stoke City, Preston, Cardiff, Doncaster, Huddersfield, Scunthorpe, Fleetwood, Forest Green, Newport County and back to York, where he is currently top scorer. This is his no-holds-barred life story.

"Hasta la vista, Bayern finalista!" Spontane, unvergessliche Sprüche wie dieser sind das Markenzeichen des Fußballreporters Wolff-Christoph Fuss. Im Jahr der Fußball-WM 2014 erzählt er aus der verrückten Realität seines Traumberufs und einer häufig überdrehten Branche. Er erinnert sich an peinliche Patzer bei seinen ersten Spielkommentaren, an emotionale Augenblicke wie beim "Spiel für die Ewigkeit" zwischen Inter Mailand und Schalke 04 oder an Vorgänge hinter den Kulissen.

Am 13. Juli 2014 schrieb Mario Götze Fußballgeschichte. An diesem Tag schoss er die deutsche Nationalelf mit seinem 1:0 im WM-Finale gegen Argentinien zum Weltmeistertitel. Das Tor war der vorläufige Höhepunkt der noch jungen Karriere eines der talentiertesten Fußballer, den Deutschland je hatte. Wenn nur Pep Guardiola, sein Trainer bei den Bayern, die Fähigkeiten des Ex-Dortmunders endlich voll ausschöpfen würde.

Seit Thomas Müller im Herbst 2008 die große Fußballbühne betrat, sorgt er für Furore. Mit seinen Bayern wurde er mehrfach Deutscher Meister und Pokalsieger, seine drei Endspiele in der Champions League krönte er mit dem Titel 2013. Und mit der Nationalmannschaft feierte Müller ein Jahr später den bislang größten Erfolg seiner noch jungen Karriere: den Weltmeistertitel. Mit seinen gerade einmal 25 Jahren schickt sich der Offensiv-Allrounder an, Rekorde für die Ewigkeit aufzustellen und sich einen Ehrenplatz in der Geschichte des deutschen Fußballs zu sichern.

Carlo Ancelotti, uno dei grandi protagonisti del calcio italiano, racconta la sua vita con la schiettezza e lo spirito pungente che derivano dalle sue origini contadine. "Uno su mille ce la fa", e lui è quell'uno. Centrocampista forse un po' lento, ma caparbio e con una lucida visione di gioco, ha avuto due grandi maestri, uno agli antipodi dell'altro: Liedholm e Sacchi. Da lì, la vocazione irresistibile a fare l'allenatore. Attenendosi semplicemente ai risultati, Carletto da Reggiolo ha vinto tutto. Eppure, la sua carriera sembra un percorso avventuroso.

Thou Shall Not Pass (the title comes from a command England captain Terry Butcher would shout before every match) celebrates the football position where brutal characters are loved for their hard-hitting tackles and bruising mentality and yet laughed at for their apparent lack of skill. As well as covering the long and illustrious history of the centre-half, the book will take the listener into the muddy penalty area frequented by our protagonists, into their domain.

The exciting story of one of the fastest growing sports in the world, played by over 30 million girls and women. Over 25 million people tuned in for the Americans' 2015 Women's World Cup final victory - the most-watched football match in United States history. The Making of the Women's World Cup details the most incredible tales from previous Women's World Cups.

Born out the docks in the Victorian East End, Millwall and West Ham United's rivalry precedes the formation of both football clubs. The two areas of East London viewed each other with suspicion and discontent—something that only heightened after Millwall's move south of the River Thames in 1910.

Il 18 gennaio del 1977 a Roma muore Luciano Re Cecconi, centrocampista della Lazio e della nazionale. Muore per via del colpo di pistola sparato da Bruno Tabocchini, un orafo della capitale. Muore perché - raccontano - stava fingendo un furto proprio in quella gioielleria, e aveva fatto irruzione gridando: "Fermi tutti, questa è una rapina!" Ma il caso non è affatto chiaro, e le testimonianze restano contrastanti.