The Official History of the FIFA World Cup Book is an authoritative and comprehensive review of the 20 FIFA World Cups to have taken place since the inaugural tournament in 1930. Packed with stunning photography, exclusive interviews of the biggest stars of each edition, unique official documents and statistics, it is a must read for any football fan around the world. No other event in the sporting world can rival the glamour, impact, fervent following and universal appeal of the FIFA World Cup. This unique book tells the stories behind the scenes, as well as analyzing the most famous incidents. It features the biggest stars and many previously unknown ones too, all with a unique worldwide point of view.

There is no sporting event more popular than the World Cup. For one month every four years, billions of people around the world turn their attention to the tournament. Fans call in sick to work, pack into bars to watch games, or stay home for days at a time glued to their TV sets. Nothing else seems to matter. In A History of the World Cup: 1930-2014, Clemente A. Lisi chronicles this international phenomenon, providing vivid accounts of individual games from the tournament's origins in 1930 to modern times. It features a glossary of terms, statistics for each competition, photos, and profiles of the most memorable—and controversial—figures of the sport, including Diego Maradona, Juste Fontaine, Franz Beckenbauer, Mario Kempes, Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, and, of course, Pelé. Though other histories of the World Cup largely ignore the United States' contribution to the competition, this volume highlights the progress of the American teams over the last several decades. Updated with a new chapter on the 2014 World Cup, profiles of those players who stood out in the latest competition, and revised statistical information, A History of the World Cup provides a fascinating read for fans of the game.

The World Cup as World History uses football’s premier event to analyze modern sports and world history. William D. Bowman traces the history of a tournament that has become a global phenomenon that generates intense political, economic, and cultural interest and profound discussions about racial, ethnic, and gender identity in the contemporary era. By focusing on the World Cup, the book keeps a tight thematic focus that allows for an integrated discussion of the core issues of globalization, money and finance, sport as spectacle, race and gender, and contemporary politics.

There is no sporting event more popular than the World Cup. For one month every four years, billions of people around the world turn their attention to the tournament. Fans call in sick to work, pack into bars to watch games, or stay home for days at a time glued to their TV sets. In A History of the World Cup: 1930-2018, Clemente A. Lisi chronicles this international phenomenon, providing vivid accounts of individual games from the tournament's origins in 1930 to modern times. In addition, the book features statistics for each competition, photos, and profiles of the most memorable—and controversial—figures of the sport, including Diego Maradona, Juste Fontaine, Franz Beckenbauer, Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Miroslave Klose, and Pelé. This new edition includes coverage of the FIFA corruption scandal, the use of video technology, a profile of 2018 Golden Ball winner Luka Modric, revised statistical information, and memorable moments from the 2018 tournament. Comprehensive yet highly readable, A History of the World Cup is a wonderful book for fans of the beautiful game.

The first complete history of the FIFA World Cup with a preview of the 2022 event in Qatar. Every four years, the world’s best national soccer teams compete for the FIFA World Cup. Billions of people tune in from around the world to experience the remarkable events unfolding live, both on and off the field. From Diego Maradona’s first goal against England at the 1986 World Cup to Nelson Mandela’s surprise appearance at the 2010 final in South Africa, these unforgettable World Cup moments have helped to create a global phenomenon. In The FIFA World Cup: A History of the Planet's Biggest Sporting Event, veteran soccer reporter Clemente A. Lisi chronicles the tournament from 1930 to today, including a preview of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Lisi provides vivid accounts of individual games, details the innovations that impacted the sport across the decades, and offers biographical sketches of greats such as Pelé, Diego Maradona, and Lionel Messi. In addition, Lisi includes needed, objective coverage of off-field controversies such as the FIFA corruption case, making this book the only complete and impartial history of the tournament. Featuring personal interviews and behind-the-scenes stories from the author’s many years attending and covering the World Cup, as well as stunning color photography, The FIFA World Cup is the definitive history of this global event.

This is the ultimate reference book on the World Cup, with match-by-match articles featuring the biggest names in world football, plus results from every game played. All the statistics are here in one volume, enough to satisfy the most avid of World Cup fans, including team line-ups, goalscorers, stadiums, referees, crowd figures and exact dates, plus an authoritative records and statistics section, as well as detailed reports of every game played in the finals. From the brilliant Italian team, winners in 1934, and Geoff Hurst's hat-trick for England in 1966 to the fabulous Brazilian team of Pele, Tostao and Jairzinho of 1970, and the 1998 French side of Zidane, Deschamps and Desailly, all the fabulous memories and defining moments are captured in this one book. As well as the facts and feats, this book contains archive photographs of some of the most memorable images of football's greatest tournament.

"Full of humor and insight about sport and culture.... The pomp, glory, and great entertainment all get their due in Eight World Cups."—The Boston Globe Blending witty travelogue with action on the field—and shady dealings in back rooms—George Vecsey offers an eye-opening, globe-trotting account of eight World Cups. He immerses himself in the great national leagues, historic clubs, and devoted fans and provides his up-close impressions of charismatic soccer stars like Sócrates, Maradona, Baggio, and Zidane, while also chronicling the rise of the U.S. men's and women's teams. Vecsey shows how each host nation has made the World Cup its own, from the all-night street parties in Spain in 1982 to the roar of vuvuzelas in South Africa in 2010, as the game in the stadium is backed up by the game in the street. But the joy is sometimes undermined by those who style themselves the game's protectors.

Africa’s World Cup: Critical Reflections on Play, Patriotism, Spectatorship, and Space focuses on a remarkable month in the modern history of Africa and in the global history of football. Peter Alegi and Chris Bolsmann are well-known experts on South African football, and they have assembled an impressive team of local and international journalists, academics, and football experts to reflect on the 2010 World Cup and its broader significance, its meanings, complexities, and contradictions. The World Cup’s sounds, sights, and aesthetics are explored, along with questions of patriotism, nationalism, and spectatorship in Africa and around the world. Experts on urban design and communities write on how the presence of the World Cup worked to refashion urban spaces and negotiate the local struggles in the hosting cities. The volume is richly illustrated by authors’ photographs, and the essays in this volume feature chronicles of match day experiences; travelogues; ethnographies of fan cultures; analyses of print, broadcast, and electronic media coverage of the tournament; reflections on the World Cup’s private and public spaces; football exhibits in South African museums; and critiques of the World Cup’s processes of inclusion and exclusion, as well as its political and economic legacies. The volume concludes with a forum on the World Cup, including Thabo Dladla, Director of Soccer at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, Mohlomi Kekeletso Maubane, a well-known Soweto-based writer and a soccer researcher, and Rodney Reiners, former professional footballer and current chief soccer writer for the Cape Argus newspaper in Cape Town. This collection will appeal to students, scholars, journalists, and fans. Cover illustration: South African fan blowing his vuvuzela at South Africa vs. France, Free State Stadium, Bloemfontein, June 22, 2010. Photo by Chris Bolsmann.

The FIFA World Cup is arguably the biggest sporting event on earth. This book is the first to focus on the business and management of the World Cup, taking the reader from the initial stages of bidding and hosting decisions, through planning and organisation, to the eventual legacies of the competition. The book introduces the global context in which the World Cup takes place, surveying the history and evolution of the tournament and the geopolitical background against which bidding and hosting decisions take place. It examines all the key issues and debates which surround the tournament, from governance and corruption to security and the media, and looks closely at the technical processes that create the event, from planning and finance to marketing and fan engagement. Analysis of the Women’s World Cup is also embedded in every chapter, and the book also considers the significance of World Cup tournaments at age-group level. No sport business or management course is complete without some discussion of the FIFA World Cup, so this book is essential reading for any student, researcher or sport business professional looking to fully understand global sport business today.

This is the illustrated story of 23 soccer players who worked together to become World Cup champions and heroes to millions of men, women, boys, and girls across America and around the world. In July 2019, a record number of people all around the world tuned in to watch the Women's World Cup, which took place in France. Fifty-two games, twenty-four teams, four weeks . . . one winner. Megan Rapinoe had waited for this day since she attended a World Cup game as a teenager, and Alex Morgan had set her sights on a World Cup victory of her own as she watched Mia Hamm, Brandi Chastain, and Team USA win in 1999. Years of hard work, determination, and practice put Megan, Alex, and their teammates in the perfect position, and they took full advantage. Rose Lavelle, Tobin Heath, Alyssa Naeher, Crystal Dunn, Ali Krieger, Julie Ertz, Carli Lloyd, and the rest of the US Women's National Team returned home from France with the title, the trophy, and their nation's pride, becoming the first team in history to win four Women's World Cup titles! New York City threw a parade in their honor, and fans lined the streets, clapping and cheering and chanting their names. These women were on top of the world—they'd come so far. They'd achieved their dreams! World Cup Women highlights Team USA's tournament experience and provides a glimpse into what shot them to the top . . . and what may keep them there a little longer.