Sports Soccer

Once upon a time football was run by modest local businessmen. Today it is the plaything of billionaire oligarchs, staggeringly wealthy from oil and gas, from royalty, or from murkier sources. But who are these new masters of the universe? Where did all their money come from? And what do they want with our beautiful game? In The Billionaires Club James Montague delves deeper than anyone else has dared, to tell this story for the first time.

Behind every big-time soccer record is a dramatic story of how a player or team achieved greatness on the field. From mind-boggling goals to the greatest fingertip saves, here are the record-setting moments that will keep soccer fans tuned in for more.

Archie Macpherson's compelling biography reappraises Jock Stein's career and looks closely at the personality of the man whose shrewdness and cunning stamped him eventually with greatness. Stein hugely influenced the history of football between his debut as a professional player in Lanarkshire in 1942 and his death at the side of the pitch in 1985. He redesigned the landscape of the Scottish game as the great innovator and successfully exported his values outside the country when European football was in the grip of the ice-age of defensive football.

What is a bravey? For Alexi Pappas, it means to chase the goals that seem scary. She has not shied away from the challenge. In this honest and hopeful memoir written especially for young listeners, Alexi Pappas details key moments that had profound effects on her life, including the loss of her mother when she was just four years old, to her formative years at school where she felt different from her peers, and into her young adult life, including the incredible year she experienced in 2016 when she made her Olympic debut as a distance runner.

In I Love This Game, the long-awaited autobiography of Patrice Evra, the former Manchester United and France star looks back on a remarkable life and career. Having played alongside some of the club's greatest legends, such as Ryan Giggs, Cristiano Ronaldo, Wayne Rooney and Paul Scholes, in one of United's most successful eras, Evra has now found a new role as an in-demand pundit and social media star.

As the captain of Manchester Athletic, I know exactly what persona the media and fans need to see. Everything else is behind tightly closed bedroom doors. I didn't have a pretty childhood. I'm all kinds of broken. The only relationships I have contain boundaries, non-disclosure agreements, and safe words. My best friend and teammate is one of the few people who knows about what I do in private. My problem? The one woman I think I can fall in love with—his sister.

Soccer is a game of habits...and the wrong habits get punished once your opponent intercepts the careless pass you continue to make over and over again. Mastering your soccer game means stepping out of the hamster wheel you´ve been living in for years. If you want to instantly level up your game, all you need to do is follow the simple formula of strategies to improve your habits you never even notice.

From the wounds left by the civil war to the teams’ recent global domination, historian and expert on Spanish football, Sid Lowe lifts the lid on sport’s greatest rivalry. Lowe has spoken to the biggest names and the forgotten heroes who defined their clubs. Men like Alfredo Di Stéfano and Johan Cruyff as well as the only survivor of the most politically charged game in history, the Barcelona striker who knocked Madrid out of the European Cup for the first time ever, and the president who celebrated his club’s defining moment by taking a midnight dip in the Thames.

On the second oldest football pitch in the world, Jonathan Sayer stands atop a beer crate to address the assembled fans of Ashton United FC. As his initial optimism and disillusionment begin to slip through his fingers, the new co-chairman and co-owner (alongside his dad) starts to realise the scale of the challenge ahead.

Clean-living, wholesome, and with a constant smile plastered on her pretty face, Dee Jones is my antithesis. She's also what I'm told I need to polish my somewhat tarnished image—apparently being papped getting friendly with a fellow holiday maker on a sun lounger after your ex does a kiss-and-tell with the media isn't exactly what Manchester Athletic deems great publicity for their bad boy midfielder. A repair job is needed, and the club is hoping that the super shiny star player for the women's team can transfer some of her good-girl sunshine stardust on to me.

Norwegian striker Erling Haaland is only in his first season at Manchester City and yet he has taken the Premier League - and world football stage - by storm. At the halfway point in the season, in just 20 games, the distinctive star has scored 25 goals, beating last year's PL golden boot winners Son Heung-Min and Mo Salah. He is well on his way to beating the record of 34 goals in a single season - a record no one has beaten in 27 years. Known for his speed, strength and goal scoring, Haaland is a fascinating character who doesn't fit the mould of a modern-day professional footballer.

Pat Nevin never wanted to be a professional footballer. His future was clear, he'd become a teacher like his brothers. There was only one problem with this - Pat was far too good to avoid attention. Raised in Glasgow's East End, Pat loved the game, playing for hours and obsessively following Celtic. But as he grew up, he also loved Joy Division, wearing his Indie 'gloom boom' coat and going on marches - hardly typical footballer behaviour!

How do you win the world cup? Godlike genius or the focus of a disappointed nation's fury—the world's most prestigious tournament makes or breaks a national coach. Only 20 managers have guided their team to World Cup glory, so what are their secrets? From revolutionary tactics to hare-brained schemes, this book searches for the keys to the most exclusive club in international football.

When a career-ending injury saw former Ireland and Millwall striker Richie Sadlier retire from football at age 24, his life spiralled out of control. Without structure or a sense of purpose, fuelled by a dependency on alcohol, he spent years running from the dark memories and feelings that had haunted him since childhood. Until one day he hit rock bottom and decided to confront his demons.

Both Sides is Nicklas Bendtner's shockingly honest memoir of both the bright and dark sides of his personality and the football industry and what really happens when you give a troubled, overconfident teen millions to spend. It's about growing up in a working class neighbourhood and never denying your roots while living a dramatically changed life. It's about fighting to reach the top in the worlds' toughest league but having no respect for hierarchy. It's about friendship, rivalry, loneliness, failing father figures and the constant quest for an adrenaline kick

Think you know everything about football? Which football match triggered a war? How did "the beautiful game" push back against the tyranny of dictatorship, and usher another into power? Kicking Off Around the World includes 55 incredible stories in which football clubs have been a mirror to—and a maker of—world history and politics.

Los Futbolísimos se enfrentan al misterio más grande que han conocido hasta la fecha: ¿Es posible ganar un partido de fútbol sin meter ni un solo gol? ¿Y dos? ¿Y un torneo? En ocasiones, meterse un gol en propia puerta esconde mucho más de lo que parece a primera vista.

Andrés Iniesta is the Barcelona and Spain legend, rated by the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Paul Scholes as one of the greatest footballers of all time. This is the thinking fan's footballer, with a thinking fan's football audiobook. Andrés Iniesta was 12 years old when scouts invited him into Barcelona's famous La Masia academy. Shortly after he joined the club, Barca legend Pep Guardiola remarked of him, 'This lad is going to retire us all'.

Step into the vibrant world of sports podcasting with the eBook - "The Playbook". This dynamic guide brings together resourceful insights and practical strategies to help you navigate the thrilling arena of sports broadcasting, specifically centred around the English Premier League (EPL), one of the most-followed football leagues worldwide. In the initial chapters, this eBook delves into the vast potentiality of Sports Podcasting, explaining its benefits and reach. It guides readers on how to carve out their unique niche within sports, highlighting the importance of becoming a subject ...

Basta is the raw, honest, but above all gripping autobiography of Marco van Basten. It's the unfiltered story of his rise to fame, from being under the wing of Cruyff and experiencing life as an Ajax player to being propelled into the spotlight following Euros '88 - and scoring the greatest goal ever to win a major final - and playing for AC Milan at the peak of Italian football's popularity.