Soccer World

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.

Written with author and TV writer Ivor Baddiel, in this fun and fact-packed book, Gary Lineker shares 50 of his favourite football stories that highlight the many awe-inspiring, heart-warming and eye-opening moments that have changed the game—and sometimes the world—forever. From pioneering players, trailblazing managers and incredible tales from both on and off the pitch, this book contains everything you ever wanted to know about the beautiful game.

Soccer (or football) is a popular and beloved sport all over the world. Discover the most talented goalkeepers, defenders, midfielders, and forwards with Soccer Biographies for Kids. This lineup shows you what it takes to be one of the greats, with the amazing stories, stats, and achievements of the best players on the pitch.

In The World’s Biggest Cash Machine, informed by interviews with key figures behind the scenes, award-winning journalist and commentator Chris Blackhurst charts the gripping story of the world’s biggest football club - as well as exploring the wider transformation of the Premier League into a playground for billionaire owners.

Do you want to learn the keys to improving your defensive game? Or looking for ways to solidify your team's defense? This audiobook is your answer. As was said by a great soccer manager, "Offense wins games; defense wins titles." This is the case with every level of the professional and amateur game in all countries across the globe. Although there is a correlation between scoring the most goals and winning leagues, it does not seem to be quite as strong as having a watertight defense.

The World Cup is international soccer's championship tournament, and it rules the global sports stage. Award-winning author Matt Doeden explores the history of international soccer and covers the World Cup's greatest moments, from the Save of the Century to Diego Maradona's Hand of God goal to the United States Women's National Team's dominance. The most shocking goals, the greatest upsets, and the fun and fanfare of soccer's biggest event are all here.

Welcome to the School of Soccer! Dive into a world where soccer is more than a game—it's a lesson in dreams, perseverance, and triumph. "Inspiring Soccer Stories for Kids" invites young readers to discover the lives of 28 soccer legends who exemplify resilience and success. From Pelé and Ronaldinho’s iconic moves to Messi and Ronaldo’s relentless drive, these stories go beyond the pitch, offering lessons every child can apply to their life.

Often recruited before they've worn long trousers, today's footballers become superstars who earn huge amounts without ever learning much about the world beyond the training ground. But what do these Peter Pans, whose careers end just as most people's are getting going, do with the rest of their lives? Crouch speaks from his own experience and discusses with fellow former professionals too—just how do you safely release a near seven-foot striker back into the wild?

Answered Prayers is a definitive history of the most famous event in British sporting, the triumph of the 1966 England world cup football team and the disastrous effect that victory had on the game.

Banksy, George, Jack, Mooro, Ray, Nobby, Ballie, Bobby, Martin, Roger. Geoff's ten teammates. His old friends. They've now all gone. Heroes from an era that is slipping into sepia. But it isn't all over. One of them is still here, and before he goes, Geoff wanted to get down his final thoughts about 1966. He talks about Alf - his vision, his drive, his loyalty. Also his shyness, even awkwardness. About his teammates, about Greavsie - hard workers, team players, cool heads. Geoff tells their collective story, digging below the surface, reflecting on their victory, its impact on their lives.

'While the beautiful game has taught me a lot, becoming King of the Jungle got me thinking... I’ve had quite a life outside of football too. The World According to Harry is my take on the important things ­- from what makes true team spirit and not forgetting your East End roots, to the joys of jam roly-poly and knowing how lucky I am to have met a girl like Sandra. I can’t claim to be clued up on showbiz, but I’m certainly not short of a story or two.'

On 30 November 1872, England took on Scotland at Hamilton Crescent in Glasgow, a match that is regarded as the first international fixture. More than 5,000 fans watched the two sides play out a 0-0 draw. It was the first of more than a thousand games played by the side, and the beginning of a national love affair that unites the country in a way that few other events can match. In Hayward's brilliant new biography of the team, based on interviews with dozens of past and present players and coaches, we get a vivid portrait of all aspects of the team's story.

In 2012, Hakeem al-Araibi was a promising young player on Bahrain's national football team when he was arrested for attacking a police station during the Arab Spring, despite television footage showing him playing soccer at the time of the alleged attack. After three months of torture and wrongful imprisonment, Hakeem was released. He fled the country and made his way to Australia, where he was granted refugee status. Hakeem made a life here and was playing for the suburban Pascoe Vale Football Club, in Melbourne. He thought he was safe.

In July 2021, shortly after being named League Two's Player of the Season and Golden Boot, Paul Mullin sent shockwaves through the EFL by taking a downwards move to National League team, Wrexham AFC. Since then, 'Super Paul Mullin' has helped transform the Wrexham team, scoring dozens of goals and capturing the imaginations of football fans across the world in the process. Here for the first time, Mullin tells his own story: his roots in Liverpool, the highs and lows of English football's promotion race, lessons learnt from his young son, and what happens when Hollywood comes knocking.

Packed full of hilarious anecdotes, Razor gives us his take on the beautiful game, sharing his tactics (good banter is a defender's duty), red mist (and red cards) on the pitch, run-ins with the FA and his theory as to why Ingerland never does as well as we'd like, as well as his best ever goal and the greatest night of his sporting life.

Football changes everything. It changes how we feel, how we think, how we behave. It turns us into someone else. You love your team first. It's tribal. Except I did love something else. I loved the idea of commentating on my team, on every team. I loved it even more than my team. I ditched the girl next door for the diva on the silver screen. Like all true romances, it was irrational and intoxicating, it was tangled and foolish, it became addictive and occasionally heartbreaking and it kept on changing.

Join Lioness Leah Williamson, Arsenal and England women’s football player, as she shows girls that they can be a leader at any age, and that huge things can happen when they believe in themselves!

Sam Kerr is widely considered to be one of the best female footballers of all time. She is famous worldwide for her skills on the soccer pitch – but before she was Matildas captain and leading goal scorer for Chelsea, she was just an average Aussie kid who wanted to play AFL. This is her incredible football journey to the 2023 FIFA World Cup and beyond, from making the switch to soccer to becoming one of the best female strikers in the world. Sam gives us insights into what keeps her motivated, how she handles the pressures of life and what she believes is really important in life.

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.

In 1990, though no one knew it then, a fearless group of players changed the sport of soccer in the United States forever. Young, bronzed, and mulletted, they were America’s finest athletes in a sport that America loved to hate. Even sportswriters rooted against them. Yet this team defied massive odds and qualified for the World Cup, making possible America’s current obsession with the world’s most popular game. New Kids in the World Cup is the origin story of modern American soccer.