Sports Soccer

Not too long ago, Max Best was stuck in a dead-end job, trudging from one day to the next and mourning the fact that his burning love of soccer was getting buried in a landslide of cold statistics and intangible tactics. Then, after saving an old man from a mugging, he was "cursed" with the ability to instantly ascertain a soccer player's attributes on sight and use that knowledge to upgrade his own skills. Now he's making a name for himself as an amateur team manager, but it's not enough for him to ditch his dud of a job.

In this extraordinary tour de force, David Goldblatt tells the full story of soccer's rise from chaotic folk ritual to the world's most popular sport - now poised to fully establish itself in the USA. Already celebrated internationally, The Ball Is Round illuminates soccer's role in the political and social histories of modern societies, but never loses sight of the beauty, joy, and excitement of the game itself.

Simon Jordan made his fortune building a mobile phone company from scratch. When he sold it for £75 million, he bought Crystal Palace FC, the club he'd supported as a boy, and led them into the Premier League. Ten years later, Palace was in administration and Jordan had lost nigh on everything. Be Careful What You Wish For lifts the lid on being the owner of a football club and how the game really works. Hopes and dreams sit alongside greed, self-interest, dodgy transfers, boardroom fights and dressing room dressing downs.

As a child, Mallory Pugh would do anything she could to watch soccer, practice soccer, and play soccer. She was soccer obsessed! Discover more about Pugh's highlights on the field in this thrilling biography in the Stars of Sports series.

From tennis legend Billie Jean King to the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team, athletes have fought for equity and fairness for women in professional sports. Discover the pro athletes who have used their platform to speak out and affect change for all women.

Even people who don't know football know Pelé. The best of a generation of Brazilian players universally acknowledged as the most accomplished and attractive group of footballers ever to play the game, he won the World Cup three times and is Brazil's all-time record goalscorer. But how did this man - a sportsman, a mere footballer, like many others - become a global icon? Was it just by being the best at what he did, or do people respond to some other quality?

Lionel Messi is a superstar soccer player. But what happens when he’s not scoring goals on the pitch? High-interest details of his fascinating life will enthrall listeners.

Hope Solo is the face of the modern female athlete. She is fearless, outspoken, and the best in the world at what she does: protecting the goal of the U.S. women's soccer team. Her outsized talent has led her to the pinnacle of her sport - the Olympics and the World Cup - and made her into an international celebrity who is just as likely to appear on ABC's Dancing with the Stars as she is on the covers of Sports Illustrated, ESPN The Magazine, and Vogue.

Soccer. Football. The beautiful game. The world’s most popular sport goes by many names, but for decades, fans have agreed on one thing: the greatest player of all time was Pelé. Now the legendary star, ambassador, and humanitarian shares a global vision for what soccer can accomplish. Now he shares his story, his experience, and his insights on the game for the very first time. Before Messi, before Ronaldo, before Beckham, there was Edson Arantes do Nascimento - known simply as Pelé.

Are you searching for the perfect book to ignite your child’s love for soccer, even if they’ve never kicked a ball before? Look no further than A Kid’s Guide to Soccer Legends! This engaging, fun-filled guide is packed with captivating stories, powerful lessons in perseverance, and motivational heroes both on and off the pitch.

The last time Canada qualified for a men's World Cup was in 1986. For a generation afterwards, the Canadian national men's soccer team struggled in obscurity, an afterthought in a country that was not yet soccer-mad. The twenty-first century brought a wave of soccer passion and expertise to this frozen country—and a crop of new superstar players who lifted the forgotten team into the international spotlight.

New-kid Javier Moreno makes a big splash on the soccer field when a video of his amazing goal goes viral. But now the fame is going to his head, and he's hogging the ball and showing off. Will Javi's solo act ruin the team's chances at making the state championship?

In 1985, 40 hooligan followers of Stoke City FC experienced a riotous trip to Portsmouth - and the Naughty 40 was born. It became one of the most notorious soccer gangs in Britain. Mark Chester was a founder member of the N40. Already a hardened fighter, he had been expelled from school after an unsettled childhood and joined the Staffordshire Regiment, only to be discharged for misconduct. Stoke City's emerging "casual" mob became his family. "Right or wrong, I was ready to be a committed football hooligan," he says.

Got a kid with burning desire to be the next Thierry Henry? Do you want to give the child your two cents about soccer but got nothing? This is a soccer coaching guide to help parents to understand the basics, techniques, and relevant skills a young soccer player should learn so as to improve on his game. The guide is aimed at providing relevant resources to the youth soccer coach.

Sonny Bill Williams (SBW) is a once-in-a-hundred-year athlete with immense sporting talent in rugby league, rugby union and boxing. Sonny Bill has built an incredible career and sporting reputation across the globe. His athleticism has taken him from inner-city Auckland, where he grew up, to the highest sporting moments in Twickenham, Eden Park and Sydney's Olympic Stadium. But there is so much more to Sonny Bill Williams' life and journey than his on-field and in-the-ring triumphs.

Master of the no-look goal and Anfield favourite, Roberto 'Bobby' Firmino, signed for Liverpool in July 2015. Over the next eight years - and seven winners' medals - he established himself as one of the club's most important players in recent years for his audacious skill, impressive goal scoring, and beaming smile. Jürgen Klopp saw Firmino as the on-pitch 'engine' that drove the club's counter-pressing strategy and together with Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané, Firmino formed a formidable attacking trio.

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.

It doesn't really matter who you support. Football is a cruel, cruel game. All of us fans have had moments of shock, disappointment, and feeling like a right knobhead. As I talk you through everything from transfers to trophies to touchline tantrums, join me as I give my definitive take on football. There's a lot to get through, so take my hand like an over-eager mascot and walk with me out of the tunnel into the glaring floodlights of what it means to be a fan…and how to survive it.

It was the biggest event in the history of women's sports. And for the Americans, it came down to five kicks. After regulation play and two overtimes in the final game of the 1999 women's World Cup soccer match, the score was 0-0. Penalty kicks would decide the world champion. The Chinese and the Americans would each pick five players. One kick per player. With the score tied 4-4, the Americans had one more chance to win it all.

He was my best friend's brother. My neighbor. The one person I was never supposed to fall for, until lines got blurred-stolen kisses and lies told to the people we loved most.