LEO the NEXT BALL: A Dream Bigger Than Village Pitch

How far would you go for a dream that suddenly becomes real?Leo is twelve years old and plays football for little FC Sonnberg, a village club in the Austrian mountains. He loves the game, but what makes him different is not his speed or the number of goals he scores. Leo sees spaces. He notices the next pass before others do.Then a scout spots him.Suddenly, Leo's world becomes much bigger. What begins with a one-week training camp in Barcelona leads him further than he ever imagined - into an elite football academy, a new country, a new language and a level of competition where everyone was once the best player on their team.But getting closer to his dream does not make life easier. Leo faces homesickness, rivalry, injuries, missed chances and decisions that matter far beyond the football pitch. And he slowly discovers that success does not look the same for everyone.Luckily, there are Mia, Sami, Benni and Elias - the friends who knew him before scouts, stadiums and big matches, and who keep reminding him where everything began.A coming-of-age football novel about friendship, ambition, setbacks and the courage to ask for the ball again after making a mistake.For readers aged 10-14 who love football, realistic sports stories and characters who have to grow both on and off the pitch.