The Ball Is Round: A Global History of Football, by David Goldblatt (2006)
IN THIS extraordinary tour de force of a book, David Goldblatt describes the rise of football, from a chaotic folk ritual to a sector of the global-entertainment industry.
It is the story of players and managers, fans and owners, clubs and national teams; a chronicle of who won and who lost. But it is also a history of states and markets, money and power. And, above all, how all these forces interact. It is a history which attempts to locate where the line between the realm of glory and the realm of power has been crossed, that celebrates the love of the game, but knows that it can be bought.
Thus the book describes and accounts for the careers of Pele and Maradona, Puskas and George Best; the histories of the Wunderteam and the incomparable Hungarians, the anti-futbol of Estudiantes de la Plata and the futbol arte of Brazil 1970. It explores the cultural meanings and political uses of football in Peron's Argentina, Adenauer's West Germany, Stalin's Soviet Union and Mussolini's Italy. It ranges from the postcolonial politics of African football to the manufacturing history of the football boot; from the history of stadium architecture to the architecture of power in global football's leading institutions.