“In urban centers and tiny villages, amid plains, deserts, forests, rainforests, coastal areas and any other habitat on our spinning sphere, football found a formidable foothold. ‘Is there any cultural practice more global than football?’ author David Goldblatt asks at the outset of The Ball Is Round: The Global History of Soccer. Well, is there? Birth, death, taxes—all are imbued with what we might call universality, but as Goldblatt points out, differing rituals greet these occasions from place to place. Though styles of play can vary based on culture, history, innovation, daring, success and failure, commonality lies in the rules and rudiments of the game, which are uniform across six of seven continents. …”
Aramco World
Aramco World: 2026 Calendar PDF

“The Defiant, with its cover inspired by a Republican Spanish Civil War-era poster, details the ‘history of football against fascism’. It comes out to coincide with the 100th anniversary of Mussolini’s ‘March on Rome’, when Mussolini came to power in Italy, leading the world’s first fascist government (see ‘100 years since Mussolini’s March on Rome’). From the start, Mussolini both used and faced opposition from football, and that’s where the book begins, looking at players who refused to give the fascist salute before matches in the new Serie A football league founded by Mussolini in 1929. Author Chris Lee points out that the rise of fascism in the 1930s coincided with sporting events becoming truly international during the decade. Both the World Cup and Olympics were held in countries with fascist governments, in Italy in 1934, and Berlin in 1936, respectively. …” Socialist Party
The Defiant – a history of football against fascism
When Friday Comes: Football revolution in the Middle East and the road to the Qatar World Cup
Va-Va-Voom: The Modern History of French Football

“… On the other side of Europe, the former republic of Yugoslavia found itself in the midst of the war that went on to claim an estimated 140,000 lives. In his excellently researched book, Chris Etchingham examines the role football had in stoking national tensions, but also how it has worked as a tool of reconciliation since the end of the conflict. The collapse of Yugoslavia can be traced to the death of Josip Tito in 1980, an event that occurred during a match between two of the country’s biggest clubs; Hajduk Split of Croatia and Red Star Belgrade of Serbia. When he was informed of what had happened, the referee abandoned the game in the first half as many of those in the stands broke down in tears. …” Johnnie Lowery
Emancipation for Goalposts: Football’s Role in the Fall of Yugoslavia
Remarkable Football Grounds
European Football Maps
Forza Sankt Pauli: FC St. Pauli: Supporting a radical football club in a polarised political age

“Since 1930, the World Cup has become a truly global obsession. It is the most watched sporting event on the planet, and 211 teams competed to make it into the 2022 tournament. From its inception, it has also been a vehicle for far more than soccer. A tool for self-mythologizing and influence-peddling, The World Cup has played a crucial role in nation-building, and continues to, as countries negotiate their positions in a globalized world. The Power and the Glory is a comprehensive history of the matches and goals, the tales of scandal and triumph, the haggling and skulduggery of the bidding process, and the political and cultural tides behind every tournament. …” bbgb Books
The Power and the Glory: The History of the World Cup

“The titles were often gloriously creative and diverse, some paying homage to terrace anthems, others making a clever play on words. Sales were decent, too, with more than one million copies shifted per year at the height of what quickly became a phenomenon. We’re talking about the rise of football fanzines in the 1980s. Those purveyors of insight and irreverence who arrived on the scene when the game was on its knees in a troubled decade and helped spark a revival. … But, by giving supporters a long overdue voice at a time when they were considered pariahs by wider society, fanzines revealed those on the terraces to be intelligent, passionate people who had something to say beyond the cliched ‘Ere We Go!’ battle cry so beloved of the tabloid newspapers when generalising fans as hooligans. …”
NY Times/The Athletic
Football, fanzines and the media today
The Times: If fanzines die, part of the game dies – they give fans a voice (Henry Winter)
Football fanzines from print to the digital age: call for academic partners
Voice of the Fans Exhibition | A Celebration of Football Fanzines

“The first association football fanzine is regarded as being Foul, a publication that ran between 1972 and 1976.^[54] In the UK, most Premier League or Football League football clubs have one or more fanzines which supplement, oppose and complement the club’s official magazine or matchday programme. A reasonably priced zine has a guaranteed audience, as is the culture of passion in being a football fan. The longest running fanzine is The City Gent, produced by supporters of Bradford City FC, which first went on sale at Valley Parade in November 1984 and is now in its 26th season. Following close on its heels was Nike, Inc. which was first released in 1989. At the time it was not the first of its kind with Terrace Talk (York City), which was first published in November 1981 and Wanderers Worldwide(Bolton Wanderers) having already been established but since disappeared. …”
W – Fanzine
A Football Fanzine Archive – Where (hopefully) Fanzines Live On
“Thank you for following whatever link brought you here. This blog is where I intend to post scans of all the fanzines I posses(ed), along with pithy reviews. All of the ‘zines were mostly bought between 1985 to 1990. There are a number from the 90’s and even one from 2000 (the last one I bought in the UK). … If are looking for particular ‘zine, that I might have up, scroll below. …”
Football Fanzine List
W – Category:Football fanzines

“xGenius takes a tour of the world’s most pioneering football clubs, uncovering how elite teams are using xG to win more matches. Any club not adopting this model will be left behind. The concept of Expected Goals – or xG – has changed how we understand football. Every fan will have heard of xG, many will understand what it is, but few will know exactly how it’s being used by football teams to improve their chances of winning matches. xGenius explores the interplay between analysis, tactics and decision-making. It seeks to put the sport of football under the microscope with the aim of getting closer to the ultimate truth of what makes players, managers and teams successful. What, ultimately, wins matches.”
amazon

“… The map shows all clubs in the English football system which drew above 1,000 per-game in 2024-25 (home domestic league matches): 156 clubs, including 64 non-League clubs.
Also, there is an inset-map for all the clubs drawing above 1-K-per-game from Greater London-plus-the-immediate surrounding area (18 clubs from Greater London + 3 clubs from surrounding areas of the Home Counties). …”
billsportsmaps
W – Truro City F.C.

8th April 1950: Boys playing football in a residential street in London.
“… In A People’s History of Football, French climate journalist and Le Monde diplomatique correspondent Mickaël Correia argues that things have not always been this way — or at least not to such a grotesquely indefensible extent. The world’s most popular sport has an alternative, ‘antiestablishment’ history, which Correia seeks to uncover and defend. Though he dwells on the ‘subversive aspect’ of football, Correia is hardly a romantic. ‘Globalized football,’ he reminds us in the very opening of the book, ‘has become . . . the very embodiment of unbridled capitalism’s worst excesses.’ …”
Jacobin
amazon: A People’s History of Soccer

“How often do you hear today, that somebody declares they deserve success because they want it so badly? Wanting something doesn’t mean you deserve to be rewarded, “want” is often a symptom of greed, of entitlement and more than a touch of arrogance. Success has to be earned and the problem for the aggressively-driven folk in society, they are up against similarly-minded people that also feel they ‘deserve’ accolades because they crave the recognition. In a world where instant gratification, impatience and the need to win attention seems to dominate so many people’s lives, life has become a competition. It may have always been like that, but now we have the means to command and control that attention. …”
Game of the People

“In his book A matter of Life and Death: A History of Football in 100 Quotations (2015), The Telegraph’s columnist Jim White quotes former Scotland manager Ally MacLeod as saying: ‘You can mark down 25 June 1978 as the day Scottish football conquers the world.’ As was later to be harshly proven, it didn’t quite turn out that way. The tale of Scotland’s venture to South America for the World Cup finals has gone down in infamy, and if the epithet of ‘pantomime’ that many have sought to label the Tartan Army’s travails in Argentina with is appropriate, many would also be keen to cast MacLeod in the role of the piece’s villain. …”
These Football Times
Google: A Matter of Life and Death: A History of Football in 100 Quotations
amazon

“In Masters of Modern Soccer, Sports Illustrated writer Grant Wahl asks: How do some of the game’s smartest figures master the craft of soccer? By profiling players in every key position (American phenomenon Christian Pulisic, Mexican superstar Javier “Chicharito” Hernández, Belgium’s Vincent Kompany, Spain’s Xabi Alonso, Germany’s Manuel Neuer) and management (Belgium coach Roberto Martínez and Borussia Dortmund sporting director Michael Zorc), Wahl reveals how elite players and coaches strategize on and off the field and execute in high pressure game situations. …”
amazon
Google