The Buzz...About Books

Whether you call it soccer or football, it is the world's most popular sport played in more than 200 countries and by more than 250 million people.  If the historic bronze medal performance by the Canadian women's soccer team has inspired you to learn more about the sport, these books will get you started.

Personal Narratives

Fever Pitch by Nick Hornby
Novelist Hornby describes the ups and downs of his life as an Arsenal Football Club supporter.
        eBook

Finding the Game: Three Years, Twenty-Five Countries and the Search for Pick-Up Soccer by Gwendolyn Oxenham
Her plans to play soccer professionally ended when the women's league disbanded but Oxenham followed her love of the game around the world, playing pickup soccer while making a documentary about the sport.

Full-Time: a Soccer Story by Alan Twigg
Twigg and his teammates-a group of men over 50-prepare for a series of exhibition matches in Spain.
        Talking Book (restricted to Print Disabled patrons)

Home and Away: In Search of Dreams at the Homeless World Cup of Soccer by Dave Bidini
In 2008, Bidini travelled to Australia with the Homeless Team Canada as it competed in the Homeless World Cup, a tournament designed to draw attention to the international problem of homelessness.

The Miracle of Castel di Sangro by Joe McGinniss
McGinniss is drawn into the drama that occurs when he visits a small Italian village whose soccer team has recently won a "miracle" promotion to the country's second-highest professional league.

Broader Contexts

Africa United: Soccer, Passion, Politics and the First World Cup in Africa by Steve Bloomfield
Bloomfield examines the ways that the African Continent has been defined by the game of soccer.

How Soccer Explains the World: an Unlikely Theory of Globalization by Frank Foer
Foer examines the relationship between soccer and the global economy.

Soccernomics: Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil Win and Why the US, Japan, Australia, Turkey and Even Iraq are Destined to Become the Kings of the World's Most Popular Sport by Simon Kuper and Stefan Szymanski
Described as the soccer equivalent of Moneyball, the authors apply economic theory to the sport in an effort to explain why international soccer doesn't work out the way we expect.

The World is a Ball: the Joy, Madness and Meaning of Soccer by John Doyle
Globe and Mail columnist Doyle provides a social history and evolution of soccer.
        eBook

This is just a small sample of the books available. Toronto Public Library also has biographies of players, training manuals and soccer-related fiction.