Soccer Memoir

Old Trafford, Manchester, 28 maggio 2003. Lo sguardo rivolto più volte verso l'arbitro, rincorsa lunga e gol. Il rigore decisivo contro la Juventus, in una finale di Champions League tutta italiana. Questo è il ricordo indelebile che Andriy Shevchenko, Pallone d'oro nel 2004, ha lasciato nei tifosi del Milan. Già da bambino sentiva che il suo destino sarebbe sta- to quello del calciatore, fin da quel marzo 1986, quando fu selezionato per entrare nei piccoli della Dynamo: il tempo di qualche allenamento poi saltò in aria il reattore numero 4 nella centrale nucleare di Chernobyl.

In My Life in Football Keegan tells the story of his remarkable rise through the sport, from the Peglers Brass Works reserve team in Doncaster to helping Liverpool become the kings of Europe, winning a Bundesliga title with Hamburg and captaining England. Keegan was recognised around the world as one of the sport's genuine superstars and remains the only Englishman to win the Ballon d'Or twice....

On the morning of Saturday 15th April 1989, Jenni Hicks, her husband and their two teenage daughters, Sarah and Vicki, went to watch a football match. That was to be their last day as a family. Sarah and Vicki didn't come home, and Jenni's world was changed forever. Since that fateful day, Jenni has tirelessly campaigned for justice for her own and others' families. But this is not the story of the Hillsborough tragedy. This is a story of what came before and after that day.

¿Qué tiene que ver la historia del Quisco, un joven futbolista amateur, con los superjugadores Ronaldo o Totti? ¿En qué se relaciona la semifinal entre Universidad Católica de Rinconada de Los Andes y Ferro Llanquihue, con la final de la Copa América? La pasión por el fútbol es lo que une, en este libro magistralmente escrito, estas y otras historias épicas, que nos llevan a vivir el ritual de la cancha, el vitoreo de la hinchada y las gambetas de la vida misma.

Jürgen Klopp's super-sized personality and all-or-nothing style of football and management made him the perfect choice to pump up the volume at Anfield. The appointment sparked hysteria in the city, with fans and club officials delighted to get the coach they'd long admired from afar and eager to see the impact he would have. With exclusive access to Klopp's friends, family, colleagues and players, Raphael Honigstein goes behind-the-scenes at Liverpool, Mainz and Dortmund to tell the definitive story of Klopp's career.

Joel Selwood’s remarkable leadership is well-known across AFL football. Selwood will not only go down in history as an icon of the game – a record breaker – but also as a selfless leader who supported his team through one of the club’s most successful periods in its history. After Selwood was made captain of the team in 2012, Geelong made the finals in all but one season, playing in seven preliminary finals and two Grand Finals – culminating in Geelong’s tenth premiership in 2022. Now, for the first time, Selwood tells his story in his own words.

After being expelled from school for playing football for his country, fifteen-year-old Liam Brady travelled to London to join Arsenal, and soon became an indispensable part of their glorious 1970s team. Rightly considered one of the Republic of Ireland's best-ever footballers, he went on to enjoy successes with Juventus, Sampdoria and West Ham, as well as managing Celtic and Brighton and Hove, and becoming assistant manager of his national team. Today he is best known for his much-respected TV punditry and searingly intelligent insights into the game he adores.

"Aus dem Hintergrund müsste Rahn schießen. Rahn schießt. Toooor!" Jeder Fußball-Fan kennt diese Sätze. Der deutsche Triumph 1954 gilt bis heute als ein Wunder. Manche sehen in ihm sogar die wahre Geburtsstunde der Bundesrepublik. Tobias Escher gelingt es, anhand der legendären Weltmeisterschaft ein Stück deutscher Geschichte zu erzählen - schließlich waren fast alle deutschen Spieler noch als Soldaten im Krieg, fünf Jahre zuvor war Deutschland noch besetzt gewesen, von einer Bundesliga konnte man in den Fünfzigerjahren nur träumen.

Honest, funny, brave and inspired, Macca shares her story here for the first time: the family and first-believers who supported and challenged her from the beginning; the coaches and mentors who pushed her beyond her comfort zone and provided the blueprint of a champion; the rivals and teammates who transformed the Matildas into a global force to be reckoned with.

Balme is unique in having spent longer than anyone else in clubland. Richmond, Norwood, Melbourne, Collingwood, Geelong and Richmond again—over 50 years. He's seen and created limitless change in those decades. So how did Neil Balme go from being the infamous on-field enforcer of the 1970s to the avuncular guru the football world knows and loves today? After 11 premierships, an aura surrounds the man.

Bernard Brogan’s life story is one of the most keenly anticipated Irish sport autobiographies in years. For much of the past decade Bernard Brogan was the headline act of Gaelic football for his remarkable forward play, scoring feats and role in helping transform Dublin from contenders into the most dominant team the sport has ever known. Yet despite reaching the pinnacle of the sport, Brogan has encountered his fair share of setbacks. He suffered two cruciate ligament injuries and only broke onto the Dublin senior team when he was 23.

Who is Erik ten Hag? With an air of unperturbability, he ignores critics, follows his own methods and relentlessly pursues perfection on the pitch. His uncanny ability to analyse and solve problems—the 'process' as Ten Hag calls it—has unfailingly led to breakthrough. There is no magic. There is only intelligence at work, personal devotion to players and near-obsessive attention to detail. Maarten Meijer's definitive biography follows Erik ten Hag, from his upbringing in the Dutch countryside to his domestic triumphs and European victories.

Every four years, Americans turn their attention to the world’s game - soccer. As recently as 1998, the USMNT merely made up the numbers at the biggest sporting tournament of all, but once Bruce Arena took over the team, American soccer started to find its footing. In the 2002 World Cup, a highly-fancied Portugal team, featuring the great Ronaldo, lost to Arena’s US team in a shocking 3-2 victory, and but for a handball that wasn’t given, they could well have knocked off eventual winners Germany.

Troy Deeney is best known as Watford FC's captain and a thorn in Arsenal's side. But behind the successful and gritty football persona is a remarkable story of resilience. In this brutally honest and inspirational memoir, Troy shares what it was like to grow up on Europe's largest council estate, where his mum worked three jobs and his father, a notorious drug dealer, was frequently in and out of prison.

Despite debuting on Canada’s senior national soccer team 20 years ago, scarce is known of Atiba Hutchinson. We’ve watched him win Canadian Men’s Player of the Year six times; celebrated his club team championships; and mourned his injuries. We’ve lamented the state of Canadian soccer and cursed the lost potential—and years. Yet, we know little about Atiba’s personal life, or how he rose from suburban Brampton to becoming Canada’s most-capped national men’s team player, often described as the country’s greatest athlete you haven’t heard about.

In 2009, Notts County FC were on the brink of bankruptcy when they were taken over by a mysterious company supposedly backed by the Bahraini royal family. The club was promised millions of pounds worth of investment and a list of marquee players, including Sol Campbell and Kasper Schmeichel were signed, in a recruitment drive led by former England manager Sven-Göran Eriksson, who was appointed to take the club all the way to the Premier League.

'Immaculate footballer. Imperial defender. Immortal hero of 1966. Master of Wembley. Captain extraordinary. Gentleman of all time.’ These are some of the words inscribed beneath the statue of England’s World Cup-winning captain, Bobby Moore, at Wembley stadium. Since Moore’s death, of bowel cancer at just 51, these accolades represent the accepted view of this national treasure. But what do we actually know about Bobby Moore as a person? What about the grit alongside the glory?

In 2015 former England football star Rio Ferdinand suddenly and tragically lost his wife and soul mate, Rebecca, age 34, to cancer. It was a profound shock, and Rio found himself struggling to cope not just with the pain of his grief but also with his new role as both mum and dad to their three young children. Rio's BBC1 documentary Being Mum and Dad touched everyone who watched it and won huge praise for the honesty and bravery he showed in talking about his emotions and experiences.

Eric Cantona was at Manchester United for just five years, yet his legacy and influence endure. Over that period, he became the first foreigner to be voted best player by sports journalists, was crowned player of the century by the team’s supporters and voted the most emblematic player in the Premier League during its opening decade. The Frenchman fascinated both fans of the game and those who know nothing about football, yet to a large extent he is an enigma, a hugely popular player who showed mercurial talent on the pitch, but one who remains almost unknown away from it.

Sin recurrir a la brillante fotografía del liderazgo de Sergio Ramos García (Camas, Sevilla, 30-3-1986), no sería fácil navegar por la estela de éxitos que han venido atravesando la Selección española de fútbol y el propio Real Madrid desde comienzos del Siglo XXI. Campeón del mundo en 2010, en Sudáfrica y doble campeón de Europa (2008/2012) con el equipo de España -al que ya capitaneó en la Copa del Mundo de 2018, en Rusia-, Ramos ha ido marcando una clara secuencia de liderazgo desde que en 2005 fue transferido del Sevilla al Real Madrid por una cifra récord.