On 23 July 1993, under the rain of artillery fire from the army of the self-proclaimed republic of Nagorno-Karabakh, the city of Agdam was levelled to the ground. The population fled to other villages or to the capital of Baku, while 60,000 of Agdam's inhabitants - their homes reduced to rubble - were forced to become refugees in their own country. The last standard-bearer of the once-bustling and historically important city of Agdam was its football team. Qarabag instantly became the embodiment of this obsolete city, and took on the role of keeping it alive for a population that had lost everything - a beacon of light in the darkest of times. The team, led by coach Gurban Gurbanov, would amaze the whole of Europe, first reaching the Europa League groups and then the Champions League group stage. This book tells the story of that incredible sporting feat and how the club's two-horse logo has become the emblem of an entire people, of a nation that struggles, suffers and holds tight to the dream of one day returning home.

The Great Uncrowned: Football's Most Celebrated Losers is the story of football's ultimate bridesmaids, those clubs that were good enough to win the major prizes but, for various reasons, didn't. In an age when victory is all too often viewed as the be all and end all, this book celebrates the teams that were beaten by bad luck, limited resources or an outstanding set of players. From early 20th-century runners-up from Lancashire and Wales to flamboyant teams from Europe and South America, near-misses can be found anywhere in the world. Some have been forgotten, pushed aside by the elitist nature of modern football. Others have passed into history and are rarely revisited. As well as reviving the exploits of great players and impressive teams, The Great Uncrowned also provides context around the development and social position of each side and asks if football needs a structure that provides more winners and fewer losers.

The study of association football has recently emerged as vibrant field of inquiry, attracting scholars worldwide from a variety of disciplinary backgrounds. "Soccer As the Beautiful Game: Football's Artistry, Identity and Politics," held at Hofstra University in April 2014, gathered together scholars, media, management, and fans in the largest ever conference dedicated to the game in North America. This collection of essays provides a comprehensive view of the academic perspectives on offer at the conference, itself a snapshot of the state of this increasingly rich scholarly terrain. The diversity of approaches range from theory to pedagogy to historical and sociological engagements with the game at all levels, from the grassroots to the grand spectacle of the World Cup, while the international roster of authors is testimony to the game's global reach. This collection of essays therefore offers a state of the field for soccer studies and a road map for further exploration. The chapters originally published as a special issue in Soccer & Society.

The Untouchables: Anfield's Band of Brothers chronicles the rise and fall of one of the greatest Liverpool teams ever. In 1918 an enlisted man, Tom Bromilow, stepped off the streets of Liverpool and straight into the team. Still in uniform, he was one of tens of thousands of Liverpudlians who fought in World War One. His signing completed a jigsaw that eventually revealed an image of footballing perfection, a team so great they were called 'The Untouchables'. The book brings to life a host of incredible characters, uncovers friendships and rivalries and reveals amazing backstories. Meet men like Bootle-born Walter Wadsworth, tough-talking Irishman Elisha Scott, champion boxer Jock McNab and many other fascinating figures. The Untouchables reveals previously unknown detail and sheds new light on old controversies, including the real reason behind the departure of the club's manager, Dave Ashworth. Meticulously researched and lovingly told, the book breathes new life into a fascinating and long-forgotten story.

Cocker Hoop is the authorised biography of football coaching great Les Cocker. A tenacious and resilient forward, Cocker played for two clubs: Stockport County (196 games, 48 goals) and Accrington Stanley (130 games, 50 goals) before retiring in 1958 to move into coaching. As one of the first recipients of full coaching badges at England's Lilleshall, he established himself as a supreme trainer and coach for Leeds United, and helped build a famous footballing dynasty alongside Don Revie. His rising reputation attracted the FA's attention, and Cocker helped the England team achieve their pinnacle success in 1966. Filled with interviews, anecdotes and revelations from throughout Cocker's career, Cocker Hoop brings us a personal portrait of the great man, and is co-written by his son Dave Cocker and sportswriter and novelist Robert Endeacott.

It's a tally that beggars belief - 340 goals in a single season. Even more surprising is the fact few people can name the player behind that record-breaking feat. Paul Moulden was a schoolboy phenomenon. As star striker of the renowned Bolton Lads' Club, a 14-year-old Moulden smashed every goalscoring record as he netted 340 times in one incredible season - including 289 league goals in 39 matches. In doing so, he secured a place in The Guinness Book of Records. Coveted by Sir Alex Ferguson, Brian Clough and other top bosses and chased by every leading club in the land, Moulden chose his boyhood heroes, Manchester City, and looked to have the world at his feet. What happened next is hard to believe, as the grounded and hugely talented goalscorer suffered almost every major injury possible over the next decade. This is a story of extraordinary talent and broken dreams, told bluntly but without bitterness. Paul Moulden should have been a household name. This book might still make that happen.

Football has become one of the most mediated cultural practices in modern Western societies, providing players, officials and spectators with implicit and often hidden discourses about race/ethnicity, national identity and gender. This book provides new and critical insights into how mediated football as a contested cultural practice influences, and is influenced by, discourses and stereotypes about race/ethnicity, nation and gender that operate at the local, national and global level. It analyzes both contemporary media representations and the ways these representations are negotiated, interpreted and used by football media audiences. These issues are explored across all media genres (print media, television, online, social media, film, and so forth) in a multidisciplinary and cross-cultural manner, with contributions from diverse disciplines and countries. This book was originally published as a special issue of Soccer and Society.

Second Yellow: More Adventures of our Footballing Heroes brings you more funny, fascinating and downright baffling tales gleaned by authors John Smith and Dan Trelfer from their unflagging research of over 240 footballer autobiographies. Together, they have pored through the works of genuine legends, cult heroes and players they can only dimly recall from their 1983 Panini sticker albums to find stories and facts that will delight, shock and confuse - sometimes all at once. There's the chairman who owned a ventriloquist's dummy called Algernon. There's the Liverpool legend who set a team-mate's wife's hair on fire. There's the Arsenal star who confronted some innocent fans with a samurai sword. And there's the Ipswich hero who took on Sylvester Stallone in an arm-wrestling contest - possibly inspiring Stallone's half-forgotten epic Over The Top. This book covers all the bases of the typical footballer's life: love, violence, gambling, horrific injury, banter (it's mostly banter) and, apparently, pigeons.

Evertonians know what it is to experience greatness. Since the club first came to life in 1878 there have been titles won, European adventures and trips to Wembley. The fans have seen records broken, legends make their mark, matches of undeniable class. Every decade that Everton have been in existence has yielded moments of wonder, games that supporters at the time have cherished for their entire lives and which fans of subsequent generations have looked back on with undeniable pride. From the earliest days, when St Domingo's first morphed into something recognisable as a modern football club, the whole span of Everton's narrative is covered here. Those earliest title wins, those earliest finals, Dean, Lawton, Hickson, the Holy Trinity, Latchford, the glory of Kendall, the agony of Wimbledon, the joy of Royle and restoration under Moyes. Everton Greatest Games is more than just a selection of the moments that have stirred the soul of Blues. It is the story of Everton, the tale of how a church team grew into an English giant.

Set in the 1980s, Not All-Ticket: From Withernsea High to Boothferry Park Halt chronicles a dramatic period in the history of Hull City AFC through the eyes of a young fan from rural East Yorkshire. From relegation and receivership to the 'Robinson renaissance', Lusmore experiences a rollercoaster of emotions, culminating in dismay at perhaps the most contentious managerial dismissal in the club's history. In the process, he charts a course through his coming of age, capturing how it feels to follow an unfashionable team in an often unloved city. He flirts with rival sporting attractions, then tosses them aside in favour of the small-fry team in this tatty fish town. The football-fuelled adrenalin rush is soon replicated in his first forays into the local music and club scene. Discovering the delights of Hull after dark, he soon realises that Saturday is about much more than just the match. First-hand terrace tales and musical memories abound in this uplifting memoir.

Soccer is one of the most popular participant and spectator sports in the world. Social and cultural analysts have started to investigate the wide variety of customs, values and social patterns that surround the game in different societies. This volume contributes new data and explanations of soccer-related violence. Although episodes of violence associated with soccer are relatively infrequent, this book demonstrates that the occasional violent events which attract great media attention have their roots in the rituals of the matches, the loyalties and identities of players and crowds, and the wider cultures and politics of the host societies. The work provides a cross-national examination of patterns of order and conflict surrounding soccer matches. Examples are provided by expert contributors from Scotland, England, Norway, the Netherlands, Italy, Argentina and the US.

A History of European Football in 100 Objects: The Alternative Football Museum reveals the shocking hidden history of European football. In this fantasy football museum, Bollen delves into the archives to uncover idiocy and chaos from across the continent. The exhibits highlight the very worst of the human condition: greed, cheating, match-fixing, bribery, extortion and murder. Learn about the French captain who joined the Gestapo, the notorious football-mad Stasi boss, Erich Mielke and Gaddafi's son playing in Italy, the 1970s Lazio side that put Wimbledon's Crazy Gang to shame and the Romanian club owner who tried to stop hooliganism with a moat full of crocodiles. Along the way you'll meet Dundalk's one-armed super striker, Austrian legend Matthias Sindelar and the Italian George Best. Bollen again proves the ideal curator: passionate, meticulously informed and funny. His insightful take on the game is compelling and at times poignant. It is an exhibition for every curious football fan.

The Scottish League Cup is often wrongly described as the 'Cinderella' of Scottish football, as distinct from its two ugly sisters, the Scottish League and the Scottish Cup. Dating from the Second World War, it is certainly the youngest. The trophy is unusual, if not unique, in having three handles. It is a major part of the Scottish season, and has been keenly contested for 75 years. Sixteen teams have won the cup. Unsurprisingly, the big Glasgow clubs have won it the most, but Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs and Dundee have also tasted glory. The trophy has also given the likes of Raith Rovers and Livingston their moments in the sun - and who could ignore the mighty deeds of East Fife, who won the cup three times in its first decade? Rangers hold the record for Scottish League Cup wins, but Celtic's victories have been more spectacular, not least their astonishing 7-1 triumph in the 1957 final. This book pays homage to each one of the 75 seasons, with a detailed account of every final.

In 1960, at the start of a tumultuous decade that saw major global change, the Intercontinental Cup was born. For the first time, this ambitious annual cup crowned a world club champion, pitting the kings of the two great footballing continents - Europe and South America - against each other. In an era before money ruined the global balance of football, neither dominated. From the Estadio Centenario and the Maracana, to Old Trafford and the San Siro, the most iconic stadia in world football hosted Intercontinental Cup games. The star players of their respective generations participated - from Puskas and Di Stefano in the inaugural 1960 edition, to legends such as Pele, Ronaldo, Zico and van Basten. When Two Worlds Collide charts the Intercontinental Cup's colourful 44-year history, from its trailblazing inception to 2004 when the last ball was kicked in Yokohama. The controversial clashes of the late 1960s, the cup's decline in the 70s and the pivotal 1980 rebirth in Japan are all covered.

The 2018/19 Premier League season was a historic one for African players in English football. More than 130 years after Arthur Wharton became the first, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah shared the Golden Boot with Arsenal's Gabon striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in a record-breaking campaign that saw Liverpool pipped for the title by a point by Manchester City. A statue of Wharton now stands at the Football Association's headquarters at St George's Park - a testament to his status as an important pioneer of the game. But the story of how it got there, just like many of the African players who followed in his path such as Steve Mokone, Albert Johanneson, Peter Ndlovu, Christopher Wreh, Lucas Radebe and Didier Drogba, is far from straightforward. Ed Aarons describes how they confronted racism to help change the face of English football forever, enabling the modern generation of superstars like Mane and Salah to flourish. Detailing their remarkable journeys to Anfield from Senegal and Egypt, Made in Africa also features an exclusive interview with Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp - who broke the transfer record for an African player for the third time in the space of 14 months when he signed Naby Keita for almost GBP53m in August 2017. He explains how the club's African contingent played an integral role in the thrilling climax to the season that ended with them becoming European champions for the sixth time.

In December 2020, an Israeli football club made worldwide headlines. The news that a UAE royal had bought 50 per cent of Beitar's shares shook Israel and the football world. Beitar, proclaimed by some of its own fans as 'the most racist club in the country', is a club like no other in Israel. While Israeli football as a whole is a space where Israelis of all ethnicities and foreigners can co-exist, Beitar won't even sign a Muslim player for fear of its own far-right supporters' group, La Familia. On the Border is the fascinating tale of a club that began as a sports movement of a liberal national Zionism party and became an overt symbol of right-wing views, Mizrahi identity and eventually hardcore racism and nationalism. The book explores the radicalisation of Beitar and the fight for the soul of the club between the racists and open-minded fans. It is also a story of Jerusalem, the most volatile place on Earth, and how the holy city and the influence of religion have shaped Beitar.

This volume presents research on policy responses to racism in sporting codes, predominantly Australian Rules football, in a global context. While the three guest editors are based in Australia, and their work pertains to the uniquely domestic game of Australian Rules football, the outcomes, research vectors and key issues from this research are part of a much larger on-going international conversation that is equally relevant when considering, for instance, racism in English Premier League football, first class cricket and basketball. The book is an outcome of an Australian Research Council (ARC) funded project titled Assessing the Australian Football League's Racial and Religious Vilification Laws to Promote Community Harmony, Multiculturalism and Reconciliation, which investigated social participation and the impact of the Australian Football League's anti-racial vilification policy since its introduction in 1995. This book was published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

John 'Robbo' Robertson is a Hearts legend and the club's all-time record goalscorer in the league. He has a remarkable tally of 311 goals in 712 appearances for Heart of Midlothian FC. Capped 16 times for Scotland, Robbo is Hearts' most successful striker in the modern era. His uncanny knack of being in the right place at the right time and his sublime finishing touch have made him a footballing icon. Now Robbo tells his own story in his own words. He recalls how football became his passion as a youngster, how he got his big break and why he didn't sign for Hibs - a particular sore point for Hearts' arch-rivals every time the 'Hammer of Hibs' scored one of his record 27 goals in an Edinburgh derby. Robbo's recollections include brilliant insider stories about Brian Clough and Wallace Mercer, plus the heartbreak of losing the league in the season's closing minutes. He talks, too, about his family and how his life changed forever when he lost his father to cancer at the age of just fourteen. John Robertson's life is an extraordinary one. His journey takes him from the parks and streets of Scotland's capital to the history books as one of the greatest players ever to pull on the Jambos' famous maroon jersey. ROBBO is a must-read for anyone who loves Hearts and loves football.

Soccer, the world's most popular mass spectator sport, gives birth to great achievers on the field of play all the time. While some of them become heroes and stars during their playing career, transforming themselves into national as well as global icons, very few come to be remembered as all-time greats. They leave an enduring legacy and thereby claim to be legends by their own rights. While the rise and achievements of these soccer greats have drawn considerable attention from scholars across the world, their legacies across time and space have mostly been overlooked. This volume intends to reconstruct the significance of the legacies of such great men of world soccer particularly in a globalized world. It will attempt to show that these luminous personalities not only represent their national identity at the global stage, but also highlight the proven role of the players or coaches in projecting a global image, cutting across affiliations of nation, region, class, community, religion, gender and so on. In other words, the true heroes, icons and legends of the world's most popular sport have always floated at a transnational global space, transcending the limits of space, identity or culture of a nation. This book was published as a special issue of Soccer and Society.

Taxi for Kiev: The Story of Six Strangers, Crossing Six Borders, Over Six Days is the true and uncensored story of six lads from very different backgrounds who had never met before but found kinship in a common goal: to get to Kiev for the 2019 Champions League Final between Liverpool and Real Madrid. They embarked on a 3,500-mile taxi trip that took them to many places - physically, mentally and emotionally. Deprived of basic comforts for six days, this was never going to be an easy journey especially among strangers. You'd be surprised what you can learn about a man living in such close quarters. Lack of sleep, space and sanctuary just compounded the issue. Add to this a severe lack of hygiene, and this trip looked like a recipe for disaster. Not only did the lads survive and get on well but, surprisingly, they formed lasting bonds. Taxi for Kiev is one man's account of that unforgettable six-day adventure - a candid tale that touches on the good, the bad and the ugly in human nature. It has shocks, tears and laughs aplenty.

Manchester City stormed to the clubs fourth Premier League title in 2019, the fourth championship in seven seasons, which is a far cry from the 44-year wait which ended in 2012! It is hard to believe that less than 20 years ago, City were in what is now League One. Their loyal fans spent so many years riding on the wildest roller-coaster in English football, with so many ups and downs that they hardly knew in which division they were competing, but things have changed and now City are among not only England's elite, but also Europe's. This incredible journey is recorded in this updated edition of The Little Book of Man City, a selection of the wit and wisdom of the great characters who have been associated with the club. From managers, such as Malcolm Allison, Kevin Keegan, Roberto Mancini and Pep Guardiola, via garrulous fans such as Radio 1's Mark and Lard and the Gallagher brothers to voluble players such as Francis Lee, Dennis Tueart, Rodney Marsh, Kun Aguero and Vincent Kompany, here are more than 170 funny and biting quotes for the avid fan of 'the only club in Manchester'. As their chaplain once said, 'Imagine where City would be if I hadn't been praying for them all these years.'

European National football came together in the summer of 2012 for the 14th occasion. This book sets out to examine the enduring social tensions between supporters and authorities, as well as those between local, national and European identities, which formed the backdrop to the 14th staging of the European National football tournament, Euro2012. The context of the tournament was somewhat unique from those staged in previous years, being jointly hosted for the first time by two post-Communist nations still in the process of social and economic transition. In this respect, the decision to stage Euro 2012 in Poland and Ukraine bore its own material and symbolic legacies shaping the tournament: the unsettling of neo-liberal imaginings and emergent 'East-West' fears about poor infrastructure, inefficiencies and corruption jostled with moral panics about racism and fears surrounding the potentially unfulfilled consumerist expectations of west European supporters. The book seeks to explore the ideologies and practices invoked by competing national sentiments and examine the social tensions, ambiguities and social capital generating potentials surrounding national, ethnic, European identity, with respect to national football teams, supporters and supporter movements. This book was published as a special issue of Soccer and Society.

The intention of the book is to highlight the development of a type of football organisation that falls outside of the well documented elite professional game, the most recognizable face of the sport. Specifically, the focus here will fall upon community based football clubs which have grown out of the grassroots game. Well known examples of these clubs in Britain are the Bristol organisation, Easton Cowboys and Cowgirls, and the Leeds based Republica Internationale - both of these clubs have forged links with similarly motivated organisations in other countries who regularly come together in tournaments to express solidarity. Collectively, these clubs have sometimes been referred to as forming a 'DIY culture' in football. Their defining characteristics being variously described as anti-commercial, democratically constituted, advocating social responsibility and inclusiveness, and holding an outlook of solidarity that, in some cases, involves political education. This book was originally published as a special issue of Sport in Society.

Everybody Round My House for a Parmo! is the story of the most successful era in Middlesbrough FC's history, as told by those who experienced it. From Marinelli to Mendieta and Vidmar to Viduka, this 'small town in Europe' went from relegation fodder to cup-winners on the cusp of European glory in the space of just three short seasons, between 2003 and 2006. But while results on the pitch were memorable, they mean nothing without the backstory of how such heights were reached. Told with the help of players, club staff and local media at the heart of the journey, this is the inside story of how Steve McClaren transformed the Teessiders' fortunes while encountering more than a few hiccups along the way - including a failed drug test and even a manager getting hit by an angry fan's season ticket! It's one of modern football's greatest fairy tales, but even the greatest successes come with their fair share of struggles.