Be inspired by Football Legend, Kylian Mbappe! Discover more about this incredible player's journey from his early career at AS Bondy, coached by his father, to his success at Paris Saint-Germain FC and fulfilling his dream of playing for France. Football Legends: Young readers will love finding out all about the lives of their favourite players in this incredible biography series. Packed with footie facts and match stats plus Mbappe's career highlights Also in the series: Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Tammy Abraham, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Lionel Messi. Amazing cover artwork illustrated by Stanley Chow, whose iconic work has found worldwide acclaim

A look at the early years of the great Lucas Radebe and Mark Fish, one black and one white footballer. It moves from football played with rolled-up old socks on the dusty veldt, to the glamour and passion of the English Premiership and the World Cup.;It traces the struggle for liberation in the township of Diepklooit and the backlash of apartheid Pretoria to the establishment of a democratic state. We follow Mark and Lucas's efforts on behalf of Bafana Bafana, at times heroic, at times controversial, as they steer their national side from African soccer baby to football giant in less than a decade.

By James Pearce, Oliver Kay, Simon Hughes and Other Award-Winning Writers of The Athletic As Liverpool ended their 30-year wait to be crowned champions of England, they were followed by their equivalent from the world of sports writing: a team of elite talents, assembled to leave all competition trailing in their wake. This is the story of Liverpool's title win in the longest season, as told by the writers of The Athletic, with their blend of inside access and expert analysis; great ideas and beautiful writing. Articles include profiles of each of Liverpool's title winners by their former youth team coaches; Oliver Kay watches Sadio Mane score against Manchester City in the company of the striker's family, in his hometown in Senegal; James Pearce spends 90 minutes analysing Virgil van Dijk; plus there are exclusive interviews with Jurgen Klopp, and the club's US owners. Read the stories behind a unique and historical season from a team of writers every bit as good as the footballers they were following.

How much do you really know about the club you love? You can find out by exploring the 1,000 questions set out in 100 categories that make up this Chelsea quiz book. It s not often that books on football make reference to the CIA, Louis Armstrong, Goldfinger, Isaac Newton and David Bowie, but this one does! Call Yourself a Blues Fan? is a quirky, challenging affair for real Chelsea fans who can test themselves or take on each other, with the emphasis on enjoyment and discovery. Try this for size: Which nine Chelsea coaches and managers have scored in an FA Cup Final as a player? You will struggle to find anything as comprehensive as this eclectic collection. It s a must for Chelsea fans of all ages and you might not see anything quite like it again.

Those We Have Loved is an epic odyssey through the bleakest backwaters of English Football League history, the story of the 30 sides voted, or otherwise removed, from the competition between 1888-1988. Colourful contemporary match reports, in-depth background detail and modern analysis combine to tell the alternate history of English football; the story of lives lived for the most part at the lower end of the League, but every one tinged with glory and triumph alongside the final tragedies. Fully revised and updated to note the rebirth of at least a few of the clubs featured, it is a reminder that many of those we have loved are still beloved today. Featuring: Aberdare, Accrington Stanley, Ashington, Barrow, Bootle, Bradford PA, Burton Swifts/United/Wanderers, Darwen, Durham, Gainsborough T, Gateshead, Glossop NE, Leeds City, Loughborough, Merthyr Town, Middlesbrough Ironopolis, Nelson, New Brighton/Tower, Newport, Northwich V, South Shields, Southport, Stalybridge, Thames, Wigan Borough, Workington

The ideal gift for football fans to read between matches during the 2022 Qatar World Cup Pairing epic sports photography with articles from The Times and The Sunday Times archive, this volume brings together 100 of the most iconic moments from World Cup history. With striking, full-colour photography, rarely seen archival images and sensational reporting on the action, The Times World Cup Moments tells the unofficial story of the world's largest single sporting event as it unfolded on - and off - the pitch. Featuring the greatest goals, most historic line-ups, heroic players and unforgettable controversies, these split-second moments have changed the course of World Cup history and generated a global sensation along the way. The perfect Christmas gift for any football fan, some of the best moments from this book include: * The first World Cup, Uruguay 1930 * North Korea's fairy tale, England 1966 * David Beckham's perfect free-kick, France 1998 * Brazil's golden line-up, Mexico 1970 * The infamous Hand of God, Mexico 1986 * Roger Milla's celebration, Italy 1990 * Zinedine Zidane's chipped Panenka penalty, Germany 2006 * Germany's humiliation of the hosts, Brazil 2014 * Cristiano Ronaldo's spectacular hat-trick, South Korea 2018

In this cross-cutting cultural history, Gregg Bocketti traces the origins of soccer in Brazil from its elitist, Eurocentric identity as "football" at the end of the nineteenth century to its subsequent mythologization as the specifically Brazilian "futebol," o jogo bonito (the beautiful game). Bocketti examines the sport and its narratives, which usually depict soccer as having evolved from a white elite pastime to an integral part of Brazil's national identity known for its passion and creativity, and explains the ways that the popular history of the game has obscured many of the complexities and the continuities of the history of soccer and of Brazil. Mining a rich trove of sources, including contemporary sports journalism, archives of Brazilian soccer clubs, and British ministry records, and looking in detail at soccer's effect on all parts of Brazilian society, Bocketti shows how important the sport is to an understanding of Brazilian nationalism and nation building in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Bleed White is the story of Leeds United in the new Millennium. At the turn of the century a young vibrant team had ambitions to challenge the domination of Manchester United and Arsenal and by the 1st January 2002 they sat proudly at the top of the Premier League arguably the best league in Europe. But disaster was around the corner. Mismanagement both on and off the field saw the club fall into serious financial difficulty. Managers and players came and went and the club was relegated from the Premier League in May 2004. The downfall continued and they were relegated from the Championship in May 2007 and started in the third tier of British football for the first time in the club's history. The club had also been put into administration and to make matters worse they were forced to start the next season with a fifteen point penalty following a dispute with the Inland Revenue which caused them to break Football League rules. But the club is on the way back and after three long years in Division One, the future is looking much brighter. Ken Bates the Chairman has restored financial stability and Simon Grayson an excellent young manager who happens to be a fan and ex Leeds player has given the fans hope at last. This story is a fan's view of what happened at Leeds United Football Club during those eventful years. The book covers issues both on and off the pitch and has been written from two different perspectives - wearing a level headed business hat one minute and a passionate Leeds United baseball cap the next. Business objectivity meets football fan emotion and they hate each other.

Liverpool Football Club, in stark contrast to its competitors, remains locally owned, not a conglomerate or media business. Unlike its main rivals, the Liverpool club has been loathe to pursue global markets for merchandizing - though it attracts a huge fandom around the world - and its ambitions remain resolutely fixed on footballing success. No football club has ever had such an extended period of dominance in the English game, nor extended that dominance to Europe so effectively.
Many of the current crop of top young players are locally born and are a central feature of the city's nightlife, as well as national icons in pop/football/youth culture. But there are fears that the Club's great days have now passed. At the height of its powers in the 1980s, Liverpool FC was the site of two catastrophic crowd disasters, which effectively transformed the sport and added to wounding perceptions about the city's alleged sentimentality, fatalism and irreversible decline. The legacy of the Heysel and Hillsborough tragedies continues to shape the self-image of the Club and those who support it. A seething rivalry with nearby corporate giant Manchester United is a constant reminder of football's new order.
Addressing all of these concerns, as well as Liverpool's global reputation as the home of the Beatles and the 'Mersey sound', this book takes an original approach to the study of football by examining its links with other important popular culture forms, especially pop music, but also television and youth styles. In particular, however, it looks at the very special meaning of football in Liverpool.

IT'S A ROCKY ROAD! Game Changer is the eighth book in the football-tastic Roy of the Rovers illustrated fiction series, and the second Rocky of the Rovers story. Part of the third season, this exciting series is written by award-winning author Tom Palmer. The newly formed Melchester Women's team are going from strength to strength in their first full season of professional football, lead by the tenacious Rocky Race. But behind the scenes, the morale of the club is low. After a shocking incident in a men's European game, and the recent Race family tragedy, Rocky, her brother Roy, and the whole club is struggling to deal with the aftermath. What's more, she's fighting with Ffion her friend! Can she maintain her match-winning performances? How is she supposed to deal with everything that's happened? And just where does her footballing future lie? Enjoyed this title? Pick up The GBP100 Million Game next to continue the story! Praise for the Roy of the Rovers series: EPIC! - Match of the Day Magazine I love the way that they are about so much more than football: they are about heart, values and family. Both graphic novel and fiction titles are compelling, engaging and a lot of fun. Lace up and get reading. - Jim Sells, Programme manager for Sport & Literacy, National Literacy Trust. Read with my 7 year old who is football mad, really enjoyed it and left us wanting to read the next one in the series! - GoodReads Review