Soccer FAQ

All That's Left to Know About the Clubs, the Players, and the Rivalries

Dave Thompson

• Publisher: Backbeat
• Year: 2015
• eBook ISBN:
  9781617136269
• Edition: 1

Soccer FAQ is a fast, furious, and opinionated guide to the world's most popular game, an all-encompassing history that introduces readers to the biggest clubs, the greatest games, the finest players, and the fiercest rivalries. From Sunderland to Seattle, from Berlin to Buenos Aires, Soccer FAQ delves into every aspect of the sport, tracing its development from a victorious Anglo-Saxon army kicking the heads of their fallen enemies around a field, to the multibillion-dollar industry of today-and every stop in between.

Record breakers and giant killers alike file through the pages, illustrating the beautiful game as it is played at every level, from the World Cup Final to the village green, with fully updated commentary on all the world's major competitions, including the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.

Table of contents

• Contents
• Author’s Note
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction: The Birth of the Kicky-Round-Thing Game
• 1. Soccer: How Did It Get Here, and What Does It Want?
• 2. Belo Horizonte and All That: What Was So Special About 1950?
• 3. That Was Then, What About Now? The Cosmos and the Birth of Modern Soccer
• 4. Let’s Call It a League: How Did Soccer Kick Off in the First Place?
• 5. The Global Game: Are All Leagues the Same?
• 6. The Greatest Competition in the World: We’re Going to Win the Cup . . . Aren’t We?
• 7. Okay, There’s a Lot Riding on This Game . . . But Is It Really a Matter of Life and Death?
• 8. We Are the Champions. Probably. Who Are the Greatest Teams?
• 9. Simply the (George) Best: Who Are the Finest Players?
• 10. The Unfathomable Joy of Being the Underdog: Does Everybody Really Love a Winner?
• 11. The Buck Stops Here: Who’s the Boss?
• 12. Soccer Songs: What Are They Singing in the Background There?
• 13. What Did He Just Say? A Collection of Soccer Quotations
• 14. Continental Competitions: When Is a League Not a League?
• 15. The Biggest Stage of All: Club? Or Country?
• 16. On Top of the World: But It’s Not All About FIFA, Is It?
• Appendix 1: World Soccer Timeline
• Appendix 2: Selected Glossary
• Bibliography