A star athlete shares her trailblazing account of triumph in the face of sexism, self-doubt, and injury, gives a remarkable global tour of the women's soccer world, and presents a stirring call-to-action to secure equal pay and conditions. When Susie Petruccelli won a place on Harvard University's soccer team, she felt on top of the world—talented, strong, and worthy. Unfortunately, after sustaining injuries and developing health problems, she felt her worth slip away. In this remarkable memoir, Petruccelli reveals how she battled her way back onto the field and continued to fight even after she hung up her cleats. She distills the significance of not giving up on oneself and inspires players of all sports who've faced injuries to persevere. She also brings to light the inequities and discrimination female athletes face that she's traveled the world to see and document firsthand, and introduces the international athletes and activists fighting for equal pay and conditions. In so doing, she reveals the progress made, as well as the battles ahead and the force of the movement. Raised a Warrior is the winner of the Vikki Orvice Prize and has been praised by a wide range of sports icons from Pelé to Billie Jean King.

In its first 20 years the Premier League has moved football from a state of unprecedented crisis against a backdrop of recession, strikes and hooliganism to a global sport of unimaginable riches. To mark this anniversary Ian Ridley takes stock of a phenomenon that has changed English football and English society forever. Taking in the game at all levels and across the country, There's A Golden Sky is a full picture of the game today with all its glitz and glamour, rags and riches. From Hackney Marshes, clinging on in the shadow of the Olympic park, to the vastness of Old Trafford; from Doncaster Belles women's team to the rebirth of Cornish football in Truro; through to the modern game's relationship with Sky and the big bucks of Abramovich, Ridley takes us on a journey through the English game from grassroots to the topflight. Ian Ridley took a long hard look at the game back in the early 1990s when it was beset by problems both on and off the pitch and seen as the epitome of all that was wrong with our society. There's a Golden Sky examines just how far the game has come since those dark days, sucking in players and money from around the globe and providing fame, fortune and hours of pleasure in return. Examining the changes that have occurred over the last 20 years, Ridley seeks to discover if the soul of the game still exists. Through interviews with larger-than-life characters from around the game managers, referees, administrators, players and fans he has woven together a rich and fascinating story of football's metamorphosis from social outcast to favourite child.

"All the best players began with futsal!" - Pelé "If it wasn't for futsal, I wouldn't be the player I am today." -- Cristiano Ronaldo The untold story of soccer's little brother futsal, the grassroots game that is the secret behind the success of Pelé, Neymar, Messi, Ronaldo and the US star Christian Pulisic Futsal, a form of indoor soccer, is one of the fastest growing sports in the world. Jamie Fahey uncovers its global stories, tactical innovations and fascinating history and reveals its the secret behind the success of the likes of Brazilians Ronaldhino, Ronaldo Fenômeno and Romario and the kind of soccer revolutionized by Pep Guardiola at Barcelona – with Spain’s Xavi Hernández and Andrés Iniesta – and at Manchester City, with Belgium’s Kevin De Bruyne and Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson. As Brazilian superstar Neymar said: ‘It has developed my technique, quick thinking and short moves...Futsal is fundamental to a footballer’s life. It had a big importance in mine. When you’re out there playing, you’re forced to think fast and move even faster – if you lose a second, then the ball will be gone." Born in Uruguay almost a century ago but raised to an art form in Brazil, futsal is one of the fastest-growing sports on the planet: over 60 million people play this lightning-fast and tactically intricate variation of indoor soccer, which is also a bona fide professional sport in its own right. Despite its growing status, however, futsal’s history remains largely unknown and untold. Jamie Fahey is a leading futsal expert and qualified youth coach. He spent his childhood playing endless soccer matches in the shattered urban landscape of 1980s Liverpool – on the same streets later graced by Wayne Rooney, the ‘last true street footballer’. Yet when Fahey’s own soccer career stalled, he realised he had been unwittingly learning the skills that pointed to his true passion. In Futsal: The Indoor Game Revolutionizing World Soccer, Fahey makes the case for futsal’s transformative grassroots effect, both in the UK and abroad. He also tells the story of futsal’s politics, tactics and personalities – and in doing so, illuminates a hidden corner of sporting history.

THE BOY IN BRAZIL is a charming and insightful account of his magical season in the sun as an 18-year-old in Sorriso - Portuguese for smile - and takes a bittersweet look at the beautiful game and cultural concerns of the vibrant nation which would host the 2014 World Cup finals. On his journey from boy to man, he would discover an uncanny and unexpected family link to the foundation of the sport in Brazi.

Football stadiums are supposed to be packed with cheering fans. It was that way for more than 100 years until the coronavirus pandemic changed all our lives. Football managed to struggle on at some levels but without crowds - just cardboard cut-outs and fake noise instead. There was even a half measure for a while with a couple of thousand spectators allowed in. A banner at Old Trafford read, 'Football is nothing without fans', but what we discovered is that it isn't nothing, it's just better with fans there. Filled with fascinating stories, anecdotes, opinions and social media comments, Football's Better with Fans explores what it means to be a supporter. It's a light-hearted and highly dippable look at the lives of loyal fans, the fun and games they've enjoyed, their songs, banter, commitment, tattoos and traditions. The book doesn't shy away from tragedies, hooliganism or racism, but mainly it's a joyful celebration of football fandom and how we all survived when we couldn't go to games.

This book explores the meanings, significances, and impacts of the complex identities that soccer fans, especially those of men's soccer, represent worldwide. The chapters in this volume construct and reconstruct fandom in terms of diverse fan affiliations from local to global level, and from national to transnational spaces. Soccer or (association) football is a game where fans come alive with one goal. It is soccer’s fanbase that has made it the most popular mass spectator sport in the world. Since the sport’s growth and its codification in the late nineteenth century, soccer and its followers became markers of varied identities. This volume is an attempt to understand the soccer fan’s tryst with such identities, mostly at the level of professional men’s football in different parts of the world. Fans create, represent, break, recreate, transcend, complicate and confuse diverse identities in their attachments with and loyalties to particular clubs, nations, continents, spaces, communities, races, ethnicities, and players. These identities are given shape through the display and observance of diverse forms of fandom and fan subcultures. Against this wider backdrop, the book brings out the commonalities, conflicts and tensions within these fan identities. Why Fans Matter? Fans and Identities in the Soccer World will be a fascinating read for anybody with an interest in sport and its intersection with disciplines such as sociology, political science, history, media studies, or cultural studies. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Soccer & Society.

At Liverpool in the early 1970s Kevin Keegan won three First Division titles, two EUFA Cups, two FA Cups and the European Cup. At Hamburg he was crowned Footballer of the Year two years running, won the Bundeslinga title in 1978-79 and reached the European Cup Final. At Southampton he was voted PFA Player of the Year and was awarded an OBE for his services to Association Football. In his debut season with Newcastle United he helped the club to promotion and he captained the England team for six years from 1976-1982. As a manager his career has been no less newsworthy, although not always for the right reasons. Five heady and successful years at Newcastle from 1992-1997 were followed by more controversial spells with Fulham, England and Manchester City. In 2005, Keegan announced his retirement. Then, in 2008, he made headlines by returning to Newcastle United, the scene of his greatest triumphs -- an announcement which was greeted ecstatically by Newcastle supporters -- and no less sensationally resigned in acrimonious circumstances only nine months later. A revered sports journalist with unparalleled access to insider exclusives, Ian Ridley is the perfect man for the task of understanding what it is that makes Kevin Keegan tick. Training his brilliantly incisive and penetrating gaze on Keegan, Ridley offers an unprecedented insight into the mind of this most enigmatic of men.