Soccer Tales: the Untold Stories Behind World Cup

The story of football, told as it should be told.Three thousand years ago, courtiers in the Han Dynasty palace kicked a leather ball through a silk net. Five hundred years ago, English kings tried - and failed - to ban the game from their streets. One hundred years ago, fifty-three thousand people packed into Goodison Park to watch a women's football match.And in June 2026, the largest sporting event in human history will begin: the FIFA World Cup, hosted across sixteen cities in three countries, with forty-eight national teams and an estimated television audience of more than five billion people.Soccer Tales: A Journey Through Time, Triumph and Tears is the story of how we got there. It is not a statistics manual. It is not a tactics handbook. It is a collection of the great stories that have shaped the beautiful game - the founders, the rivals, the legends, the cheats, the heroes, the underdogs and the absurdities.Inside this book you will find: - The ancient origins of football- The medieval kings who tried to ban it- The London tavern where the modern game was invented- The greatest World Cup matches ever played- Profiles of the legends - from Pelé to Messi to Marta- The forgotten history of women's football- The great controversies, rivalries and songs that fill stadiums every Saturday- A complete guide to the 2026 FIFA World CupWhether you have followed football for fifty years or you are only just discovering it because of the 2026 tournament, Soccer Tales is the perfect companion: the history, the heroes, and the heart of the world's most popular sport in one beautifully crafted volume.From the author of Olympic Tales: A Journey Through Time, Triumph and Tears.

Pagina's: 125, Paperback, Independently published