The Universal Cup: Futuristic Saga of Interplanetary Soccer Glory

The year is 2045. Football has never been more popular - or more broken. Marcus Venn, Melbourne visionary, has had enough of FIFA's stranglehold on the game. He builds CIFA, rewrites the rules, and announces the first Universal Cup. Then a spacecraft settles onto the MCG oval in the early hours of a Melbourne morning. The Keth have been watching football for thirty-one years. They have been practising for forty. They want to play. But they are not the only ones watching from the dark between stars. The Vorthai - ancient rivals of the Keth - have been monitoring too. Not with admiration. With intent. Their plan is patient, precise, and already in motion. And their asset is someone no one suspects. Sixty-four nations. Sixteen cities. Five weeks. Before the Socceroos can face the Keth in Brisbane's Victoria Park stadium, the game itself has to survive. For everyone who was told the game wasn't for them.