The Official History of the FIFA World Cup Book is an authoritative and comprehensive review of the 20 FIFA World Cups to have taken place since the inaugural tournament in 1930. Packed with stunning photography, exclusive interviews of the biggest stars of each edition, unique official documents and statistics, it is a must read for any football fan around the world. No other event in the sporting world can rival the glamour, impact, fervent following and universal appeal of the FIFA World Cup. This unique book tells the stories behind the scenes, as well as analyzing the most famous incidents. It features the biggest stars and many previously unknown ones too, all with a unique worldwide point of view.

The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup features original pieces by thirty-two leading writers and journalists about the thirty-two nations that have qualified for the world's greatest sporting event. In addition to all the essential information any fan needs—the complete 2006 match schedule, results from past tournaments, facts and figures about the nations, players, teams, and referees—here are essays that shine a whole new light on soccer and the world. Former Foreign Minister of Mexico Jorge G. Castañeda invites George W. Bush to watch a game. Novelist Robert Coover remembers soccer in Spain after the death of General Francisco Franco. Dave Eggers on America, and the gym teachers who kept it free from communism. Time magazine's Tokyo bureau chief Jim Frederick shows how soccer is displacing baseball in Japan. Novelist Aleksandar Hemon proves, once and for all, that sex and soccer do not mix. Novelist John Lanchester describes the indescribable: the beauty of Brazilian soccer. The New Yorker's Cressida Leyshon on Trinidad and Tobago, 750-1 underdogs. Fever Pitch author Nick Hornby on the conflicting call of club and country. Plus an afterword by Franklin Foer on the form of government most likely to win the World Cup.

The 2022 FIFA World Cup Qatar Official Guide is the essential preview of football's greatest tournament. Packed with great photographs and expert analysis of each team, its star players and its prospects in the finals, this is vital reading for fans everywhere. The book also includes a guide to each of the stadiums and host cities, a history of the FIFA World Cup and a fill-in tournament progress chart. Book jacket.

Packed with stunning photography and expert analysis of each team, its star players and its prospects in the finals, this is essential reading for football fans everywhere. The book also features a guide to each of the stadiums and host cities, a history of the World Cup and a tournament progress chart that can be filled in as the competition progresses. No other event in the sporting world can rival the glamour, impact, fervent following and universal appeal of the World Cup - and no other tournament comes close to the 2014 FIFA World Cup Brazil Official Book. Whether you are watching the games live in Brazil or in your own home, this is the tournament preview for you.

THE STORY THAT BROUGHT DOWN FIFA'S SEPP BLATTER. 'With every page of this book, we see just why FIFA desperately needs a complete overhaul' - Sun When FIFA awarded the tiny desert state of Qatar the rights to host the 2022 World Cup, the news was greeted with disbelief and allegations of corruption. How had a country with almost no football infrastructure or tradition, a high terror risk and searing summer temperatures of 50C beaten more established countries with stronger bids? The story behind the Qatari success soon developed into one of the greatest sporting scandals of our time. And when the Sunday Times Insight team received a cache of hundreds of millions of documents from a whistleblower, the contents of the FIFA Files became a global sensation, unearthing the corruption that lay at the heart of the bidding process. Now in this remarkable new book by the Sunday Times journalists at the centre of the investigation, Heidi Blake and Jonathan Calvert, comes the most comprehensive account yet of what happened and who was involved. Above all, it explains why, despite all the evidence, FIFA continues to support Qatar - even to the extent of publishing an edited and abbreviated report into the process that was immediately denounced by its original author. Longlisted for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year, The Ugly Game is undoubtedly the biggest sporting story of our times. 'Never before has bribe-giving been documented in such graphic detail' - Independent

The first complete history of the FIFA World Cup with a preview of the 2022 event in Qatar. Every four years, the world’s best national soccer teams compete for the FIFA World Cup. Billions of people tune in from around the world to experience the remarkable events unfolding live, both on and off the field. From Diego Maradona’s first goal against England at the 1986 World Cup to Nelson Mandela’s surprise appearance at the 2010 final in South Africa, these unforgettable World Cup moments have helped to create a global phenomenon. In The FIFA World Cup: A History of the Planet's Biggest Sporting Event, veteran soccer reporter Clemente A. Lisi chronicles the tournament from 1930 to today, including a preview of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Lisi provides vivid accounts of individual games, details the innovations that impacted the sport across the decades, and offers biographical sketches of greats such as Pelé, Diego Maradona, and Lionel Messi. In addition, Lisi includes needed, objective coverage of off-field controversies such as the FIFA corruption case, making this book the only complete and impartial history of the tournament. Featuring personal interviews and behind-the-scenes stories from the author’s many years attending and covering the World Cup, as well as stunning color photography, The FIFA World Cup is the definitive history of this global event.

“An exhilarating, at times heartbreaking, and ultimately unforgettable journey that lays bare the true human stakes of the world’s most popular game.”—Warren St. John, best-selling author of Outcasts United Searching for soccer’s next superstars, an audacious program called Football Dreams held tryouts for millions of 13-year-old boys across Africa. In The Away Game, Sebastian Abbot follows several of the boys as they chase their dreams in a dizzying world of rich Arab sheikhs, money-hungry agents, and soccer-mad European fans.