A history of football's World Cup from its inception in 1930 to the 1994 tournament in the USA, with accounts of individual games, behind-the-scenes stories, and character sketches of outstanding managers and players. Team line-ups and statistical summaries are included.

Under the Lights and in the Dark: Untold Stories of Women's Soccer takes an unprecedented look inside the lives of professional football players around the world – from precarious positions in underfunded teams and leagues, to sold-out stadiums and bright lights. Award-winning filmmaker and journalist Gwendolyn Oxenham tells the stories of the phenoms, underdogs, and nobodies – players willing to follow the game wherever it takes them. Under the Lights and in the Dark takes us inside the world of women's soccer, following players across the globe, from Portland Thorns star Allie Long, who trains in an underground men's league in New York City; to English national Fara Williams, who hid her homelessness from her teammates while playing for the English national team. Oxenham takes us to Voronezh, Russia, where players battle more than just snowy pitches in pursuing their dream of playing pro, and to a refugee camp in Denmark, where Nadia Nadim, now a Danish international star, honed her skills after her family fled from the Taliban. Whether you're a newcomer to the sport or a die-hard fan, this is an inspiring book about stars' beginnings and adventures, struggles and hardship, and, above all, the time-honored romance of the game.

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.

Dive into the thrilling history of soccer's most famous tournament in this comprehensive guide to the World Cup! Soccer. No other sport in the world captivates a bigger audience--and no other competition electrifies its fans like the World Cup. Jam-packed with information about each and every World Cup ever played, this revised and updated edition of a Matt Christopher classic captures all the amazing highlights of soccer's most famous tournament. Want to know who was behind the biggest surprise defeat of the 1950 World Cup? It's in here. Want to know which country has won the Women's World Cup more than any other? Just turn the page. Want to know more about the biggest triumphs and harshest defeats, all while feeling like you're on the field with the sports legends? Wondering what the term Total Football means? You'll find the answers here--along with much, much more.

In the summer of 1950, a most unlikely group was assembled to represent its country in the first soccer World Cup since World War II. The Americans were outsiders to the sport, the underdogs of the event, a 500-to-1 long shot. But they were also proud and loyal men -- to one another, to their communities, and certainly to their country. Facing almost no time to prepare, opponents with superior training, and skepticism from the rest of the world, this ragtag group of unknowns was inspired to a stunning victory over England and one of the most thrilling upsets in the history of sports. Written by critically acclaimed author Geoffrey Douglas, and now a film directed by David Anspaugh (Hoosiers), The Game of Their Lives takes us back to a time before million-dollar contracts and commercial endorsements, and introduces us to the athletes -- the Americans -- who showed the world just how far a long shot could really go.

"In over 30 years coaching soccer, Dan Woog has seen and done it all. He's taken teams around the world. Dealt with incredible life-and-death situations. Seen every type of player (and parent). Learned what makes teenagers tick. And learned a lot about himself along the way. We kick balls is "funny, warm, courageous and edifying." It ricochets from the World Cup to Dachau, from Pele's house to 9/11. Somehow, soccer connects them all."--P. [4] of cover.

This is not a book about football. Well, it is, in a sense, but it's also a book about overcoming the odds. About being rejected from the sporting mainstream, but fighting back. About training for an international tournament with only a single ball. It's about representing one country, but being forced to live your life in another. About finding sporting representation as a rank outsider; overcoming political superpowers to find a place. It's about scrambling a team together in a few weeks to represent millions of people, or fronting a multi-continental organization on a near-bankrupt shoestring because it's that important to your indigenous reindeer-herding Scandinavian ethnic minority that they have their own global, international outlet. Those last two paragraphs probably sound like hyperbole. I couldn't quite believe it either, but every word of them is real. Follow me on a journey down a footballing rabbit hole, where sport and politics mingle in glorious, positive harmony. This is CONIFA

On 1 April 1972 West Ham United made sporting history by becoming the first club from the highest echelon of English football to field three black players in League competition. What seems commonplace now was unheard of at the time. Their manager, Ron Greenwood, picked: Clive Charles (born in Canning Town, just a few miles from the Hammers' Upton Park home); Ade Coker (from Nigeria); and Clyde Best, who had made his way to London's Docklands from Bermuda. Together, these three players smashed a social barrier playing for this most romantic and enigmatic of clubs.East End Heroes, Stateside Kings tells of the origins of these players, that fateful day in '72 and their lives over the following 30 years as they became pioneering figures in the success of the North American Soccer League.After being named by Pele in the all-time greatest NASL team, Charles managed the leading College side Portland Timbers, guided the American Women to World Cup glory and achieved historic results in Olympic competition with the US Under-23s.Coker was another leading light in the modern American game and represented the USA at international level, overcoming devastating injury problems.Best grew to be a legend in the NASL and, along with Charles, was one of only four former West Ham players to manage at international level when he took over the Bermudian national side. He has recently been awarded an MBE.Painstakingly researched and including a foreword and interview with Kenny Lynch, one of Britain's best-loved entertainers and lifelong West Ham fan, this book tells the story of three young black men who genuinely broke the mould.

The world?s most popular sport, soccer, is also one of the planet?s prevalent cultural expressions, celebrated and debated as an art form, observed with ritual and passion. Thus it has inspired literary efforts of every sort, from every corner of the globe, by women and men. The writings gathered in this volume reflect the universal and infinitely varied ways in which soccer connects with human experience. Poetry and prose from Ted Hughes, Charles Simic, Eduardo Galeano, G_nter Grass, Giovanna Pollarolo, 2010 Nobel Prize in Literature Winner Mario Vargas Llosa, and Elvis Costello?to name but a few?take us to a dizzying array of cultures and climes. From a patch of ground in Missoula, Montana, to a clearing in a Kosovo forest, from the stadiums of Burma and Iran to the northern lights over Greenland to remotest Sierra Leone, these writers show us soccer?s stars and fans, politics and rituals, as well as the game?s power to encourage resistance, inspire faith, and build community.