Fútbol
Football in Sun and Shadow - Eduardo Galeano
This unashamedly emotional history of football is a homage to the romance and drama, spectacle and passion of a 'great pagan mass'. Through stories of superstition, heartbreak, tragedy, luck, heroes and villains, those who lived for football and those who died for it, Eduardo Galeano celebrates the glory of a game that - however much the rich and powerful try to control it - still retains its magic.
Barca - Simon Kuper
Barça is not just the world's most popular sports club, it is simply one of the most influential organisations on the planet. With almost 250 million followers on social media and 4 million visitors to its Camp Nou stadium each year, there's little wonder its motto is 'More than a club'. But it was not always so. In the past three decades, Barcelona has transformed from regional team to global powerhouse, becoming a model of sporting excellence and a consistent winner of silverware. Simon Kuper unravels exactly how these transformations took place.
¡Golazo!: A History of Latin American Football - Andreas Campomar
¡Golazo! recounts the story of Latin American football: the extravagantly talented players; pistol-toting referees; bloody coup d'états; breathtaking goals; invidious conspiracies; strikers with matinee idol looks and a taste for tango dancers; alcoholism; suicide and some of the most exhilarating teams ever to take the field. And yet it is gripping social history. Andreas Campomar shows how the sport that started as the eccentric pastime of a few expat cricket players has become a defining force, the architect of national identity and a reflection of the region's soul.
Tears at La Bombonera - Christopher Hylland
Tears at La Bombonera is author Christopher Hylland's six-year journey living, working and travelling through South America - where football is a way of life. From Buenos Aires to Colombia's Caribbean coast, and back again, Hylland experiences the history and fanaticism at some of South America's football clubs along the way. Football is a global language, and he shares the stories and experiences from the terraces. It's a place where what happens on the pitch can rank low in terms of quality, but means so much off of it; where everything else, most notably the culture of the game, is unrivalled.
El Diego - Diego Armando Maradona
Celebrate the life of one of the world's greatest footballers. Diego Maradona. One thing is certain: he was the greatest footballer of his generation - and perhaps of all time. A poor boy from a Buenos Aires shanty-town, his genius with a ball took him to the heights of European and world football, and his struggle with the pressures of life inside and outside the game pulled him right back down again. Following his sad passing, read the true story of Maradona's life in his own words.