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			 Fanatic 
			
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				Soccer/football books?
			 
			
			
			It's World Cup time again. What would you recommend for reading about football, also known as soccer? I'm looking for historical/cultural/biographical books about the sport rather than explanations of the game. 
		
	
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
	
	I'm about to begin Futebol Nation: The Story of Brazil Through Soccer by David Goldblatt, but I'd appreciate other suggestions. Thanks.  | 
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		#2 | 
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			 Wizard 
			
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			I know this doesn't directly answer your question, but this week's edition of The Economist has an excellent in-depth cover story on football. You can purchase the single issue from the Kindle store (and probably elsewhere), or download a (free) copy via Calibre. 
		
	
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
	
	Mike  | 
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		#3 | 
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			Inverting the Pyramid: A History of Football Tactics by Jonathan Wilson is pretty much the definitive history of football tactics. 
		
	
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
	
	Also he is the editor of the Blizzard, a superb quarterly magazine with serious and mature writing concern all aspects of the beautiful game. I'd also recommend David Peace's novel about legendary Liverpool manager Bill Shankly, Red or Dead.  | 
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		#4 | 
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			 Wizard 
			
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			People interested in sports analytics should check out "Soccernomics" by Kuper and Szymanski, and "Why Everything You Know About Soccer is Wrong" by Anderson and Sally.  The second title probably has "Soccer" replaced with "Football" outside of North America.  It's probably not what the OP had in mind, but I'll put them out there for the others reading this thread.
		 
		
	
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
			Last edited by rkomar; 06-12-2014 at 01:59 PM.  | 
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		#5 | 
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			I loved: 
		
	
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
	
	Home and Away by Dave Bidini about his travels with respect to the Homeless World Cup. at Amazon.com Definitely in the cultural realm.  | 
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			 Zealot 
			
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		 Quote: 
	
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		#7 | 
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			A short article on goalies 
		
	
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
	
	http://www.howlermagazine.com/fourte...-goalkeeper-2/ Kind of reminds me of Monty Python's "Why do so many of Britain's top goalies love the Yangtze?"  
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		#8 | 
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		#9 | 
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			 Eudaimonia 
			
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			There is also a book by the Nobel Prize Winner Camilo José Cela that is called "Eleven Tales of Football" which i liked a lot. 
		
	
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
	
	Not sure if there is a english translation though.  | 
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		#10 | 
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			There's a really lovely short story called The Goalkeeper's Revenge by Bill Naughton. It's in this collection here. Perfectly done.
		 
		
	
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
		
	
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