Revised Edition, Updated 2019 The most in-depth guide to soccer clubs around the world, featuring 1,000 illustrations and more than 1,000 teams from 100 countries. This superbly illustrated volume is the fan’s most comprehensive insight into 1,000 football clubs (a.k.a., soccer teams), both professional and collegiate, from every continent, illustrating each club’s history and what it means to support their team. Included are key details from both men’s and women’s leagues, such as team colors, shirt designs, coats of arms, mottos, club songs, stadium details, legendary players, impactful coaches, the most memorable victories (and defeats)—in short, this is the ultimate trivia guide for any fan passionate about the "Beautiful Game." For the die-hard supporter, a football club goes beyond just rooting for the home team. Each football club is a culture unto itself with fans comprising an extended family of shared memory, glorious victories, and camaraderie. Full of engaging stories behind team traditions and statistics detailing important achievements, players, and events, 1000 Football Clubs is a must-read for any football fan and a most useful survey for anyone who needs to understand the sport considered the world’s favorite and whose popularity continues to grow exponentially in North America.

The History of English Football Clubs is a comprehensive chronicle of the 133 football clubs to have played in English leagues over the last 150 years. From current Premier League juggernauts Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Chelsea to League Two minnows like Bradford (2013 FA Cup finalists) and AFC Wimbledon. Each club has a proud history of its own, not to mention a legion of passionate, usually lifelong fans. Among these 133 are 41 clubs that lost their league status in years past, realising their supporters' worst fears. In his lively and engaging voice, Shoot magazine editor Colin Mitchell tells the fascinating stories of these English sporting institutions. Text is illuminated by rare historical images, while statistics detail important achievements, players and events. This intriguing, inclusive book is a must read for any football fan, revealing the legends and legacies behind every English club, whether brave, beloved, beleaguered or forgotten.

A new, updated edition of the most comprehensive collection of iconic soccer uniforms from around the world, featuring more than 1,000 illustrations representing 100 countries and 500 major teams. This massively illustrated and comprehensive volume presents and explains the team shirts worn by the world's leading soccer clubs and national teams from one hundred countries over the past one hundred years. In addition to detailing the colorful histories behind each shirt, the book also highlights the personalities and players behind historic matches and celebrates iconic victories and goals. Find out why the Italian national team chose blue as their color, why the U.S. women's team boasts four stars on their jersey, the relationship of Vasco da Gama to the colors of the Portuguese team, and what the patterns on the South African shirt signify. Ever since the game began, the colors of each team have been of paramount importance, creating a unique visual identity for each club and a strong sense of allegiance among fans. Millions of replica shirts have been bought by fans to show support for their teams and star players, and this book is sure to appeal to soccer's legions of enthusiasts.

An illustrated exploration of the design, meaning and symbolism of world football club crests. Why is there a devil shown on the crest of Manchester United? Which club's crest motto is 'To Dare Is To Do'? And whose emblem depicts a bear and a strawberry tree? From the seahorses of Newcastle United to the royal crown of Real Madrid, via the riveting hammers of West Ham United, Valencia's famous bat design and German club St Pauli's unofficial skull-and-crossbones emblem, there is a story behind every crest, a tale of identity. Covering more than 200 clubs from 20 different leagues, World Football Club Crests explores the design, meaning and symbolism of the game's most famous club crests to reveal why the badges look as they do. This carefully curated collection charts the continuing evolution of the designs and describes the changing styles, varied influences and remarkable controversies that have shaped football's most iconic crests. These important symbols of football heraldry will never be viewed in the same way again.

From the award-winning author of NO HUNGER IN PARADISE Outside the global spotlight, footballers don't drive Aston Martins or pose for underwear ads. This is war. This is life. This is football. Michael Calvin turned up for the first day of pre-season training at Millwall FC. 333 days later, he sat among the subs at Wembley. Over the course of a season, he witnessed the intimate everyday life of a football club far from the glitz and glamour of the Premier League, and the unique characters that come together every day on the field. These are dedicated, hard-working family men, close to their roots, 'playing for the people who hate their jobs, who'd love our lives.' Forget about the over-hyped circus of the Premier League. This is the beautiful game in all its raucous glory: essential reading for anyone whom football is a way of life.

The entertaining, revealing, and controversial bestselling autobiography of one of the most respected figures in the world of soccer. Carlo Ancelotti is one of only six people to have won the Champions League—European soccer’s most coveted trophy—as both player and coach. After a successful career playing for several of the most important teams in Italy—and for the Italian national team—Ancelotti went on to become one of the most acclaimed and outspoken coaches in European football, managing Italian giants Parma, Juventus, and Milan before moving to Chelsea, one of the Premier League’s most successful clubs, in 2009. The book moves from anecdotes of his life growing up in Reggio Emilia to stories of his time playing among the best footballers in the world. With a characteristic mixture of sharp insight and humor, Ancelotti explores the differences between the Italian and the English games, shares his thoughts on soccer’s future with the MLS in America, and reflects on the 2010 World Cup in South Africa. With a preface by the legendary former captain of the Italian national team, Paolo Maldini, this book is at once a tactician’s bible from one of the world’s most celebrated footballing minds, the fascinating story of an ordinary man reaching great heights, and in part a revealing tell-all from an outspoken insider in the cut-throat world of European soccer. The perfect book for anyone with a passion for the beautiful game.

In this captivating debut, Belfast native Stephen Rea crafts a story of sportsmanship and strength built around an unusual pub soccer team in the heart of New Orleans. Set against the dark backdrop of Hurricane Katrina, this luminous and infinitely inviting memoir traces the affecting stories of Rea and his hilarious and dynamic friends and teammates. Comprised primarily of ex-pats over the age of 35, Finn McCool's Football Club boasts a dynamic mix of idiosyncratic personalities. From Macca, the team's Scottish coach and a hard-drinking ex-professional player, to its outspoken South African landscape gardener/striker Benji, each character comes vibrantly to life in Rea's fresh and frank prose. Hilarious moments and poignant reflections shine with equal intensity throughout this multifarious work, which captures the individual experiences of the Finn's players in the wake of Katrina. A literary memoir, soccer story, and tale of survival and resolve, this work is an indefatigable tribute to a city and its residents who determined to play on after their lives were all but washed away.