Now in its fourth edition, The World Cup: The Complete History, is the only book to give a truly encyclopedic guide to the greatest football show on earth. Fully revised and updated in time for the 2014 finals in Brazil, the book is renowned for its remarkable comprehensiveness. Featuring a separate chapter for every competition; every single result of every match; every single player in every team; all qualifying details; and a detailed round-up of the entire progress of each tournament, ...

'MASTERFUL' Time Out'REVELATORY' Scotland on Sunday'GLORIOUSLY READABLE' Metro'FASCINATING' Independent'EXCELLENT' Telegraph'ABSORBING' GuardianWinner of the British Sports Book AwardsFootball Book of the YearThe fifteenth anniversary edition, fully r...

THE DEFINITIVE, CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED BOOK ABOUT FOOTBALL'Football conquered the world with its capacity to astonish, and this is its definitive history' The IndependentThere may be no cultural practice more global than soccer. Rites of birth and marriage are infinitely diverse, but the rules of soccer are universal. No world religion can match its geographical scope. The single greatest simultaneous human collective experience is t...

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?The world's g...

'Football is a pleasure that hurts'This unashamedly emotional history of football is a homage to the romance and drama, spectacle and passion of a 'great pagan mass'. Through stories of superstition, heartbreak, tragedy, luck, heroes and villains, those who lived for football and those who died for it, Eduardo Galeano celebrates the glory of a game that - however much the rich and powerful try to control it - still retains its magic.'The Uruguayan whose writing got right to...

This is the story of the greatest achievement in the history of international football.After decades of failure, Spain won the European Championship in 2008 andthen the World Cup in 2010. At Euro 2012 they became the first team to win three consecutive tournament titles.Graham Hunter was inside the dressing room as the players celebrated after the finals of the World Cup and Euro 2012. His access-all-areas pass at all three tournaments has resulted in remarkable eyewitness accounts and new...

'EPIC' Financial Times'PERCEPTIVE' The Sunday Times'BLISSFUL' Daily Telegraph'FASCINATING' Independent on Sunday'TERRIFIC' Henry Winter'EXCELLENT*' Simon Kuper*The fascinating story of football in Eastern Europe following the collapse of the Berlin Wall, from the award-winning author of Inve...

Real Madrid versus Barcelona is regarded by many as the most captivating fixture in world football. But it is not only the on-pitch battles that have forged their rivalry. From General Franco and bloody civil war to the Catalan city of Barcelona's lukewarm reaction to Spain's recent World Cup and European Championship triumphs, bitterness is never far from the surface.In El Clásico, Richard Fitzpatrick charts the key political and historical flashpoints between the two clu...

Neymar da Silva Santos Junior is the new global football superstar, already acclaimed as 'the next Pelé'. He is the player everyone wants to watch in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, his home country.With Santos, the team where Pelé played, he has reached three national Championships and has twice been elected the best player in South America. With Barcelona, which signed him for 57 million euros, he will flourish alongside Leo Messi to become one of the most lethal partnerships in foo...

The Brazilian football team is one of the wonders of the modern world and legendary names like Pelé, Garrincha and Ronaldo inspire awe in football-lovers everywhere. But in Latin America's largest country, football also symbolises racial harmony, the madness of love and the flamboyance of youth – it's a sport that expresses the identity of a nation.This edition of a book that is now a modern classic, updated to coincide with the 2014 World Cup, explores what makes Brazil the 'footb...

WINNER OF THE FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR AT THE BRITISH SPORTS BOOK AWARDSA brilliant book - Rory SmithThe story of the immense struggle to qualify for the World Cup, Thirty-One Nil roams from American Samoa to Zambia in a remarkable and insightful journey that gets under the skin of world football.In a tiny, decaying aluminium smelting town in southern Tajikistan, a short drive from a raging war zone, Afgha...

In 'The World Cup, A Very Peculiar History', author David Arscott tackles the big subjects at the heart of the beautiful game, including how the tournament first kicked off, the dirty tactics used throughout the years and the most memorable managers in the history of football. Filled to the brim with quirky quotes, fantastic facts and surprising statistics, this is the perfect accompaniment to any post-match celebration (or commiseration!) during the season. At its heart 'The World Cup, A ...