# Football (soccer) book recommendations **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 5, 2008, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-book-recommendations/475922 "2008-12-05T22:19:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2008, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-book-recommendations/475922/1 "2008-12-05T22:19:41Z")
I have an 10-year-old cousin who is totally crazy about soccer. (Observing and discussing it, not playing it.) He wants to grow up to be a talent scout for the Costa Rican national team, or something like that. So I’d like to get him two books for Hannukah: (1) A massive in-depth collection of every conceivable piece of soccer statistic and trivia you could ever think of, covering World Cups and also things like the English Premiere League. (2) A prose book of descriptions of great moments in soccer history… “10 greatest games ever played” or “20 greatest moments in soccer history” or something of that sort. He’s quite bright for a 10-year-old, so books written for adults should be fine, although obviously not “the greatest sex scandals in soccer history”. Any recommendations? (I’m assuming I may have to order from [amazon.co.uk](http://amazon.co.uk) instead of [amazon.com](http://amazon.com) to get a good selection.) Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2008, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-book-recommendations/475922/2 "2008-12-06T23:26:54Z")
bump? ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [December 7, 2008, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-book-recommendations/475922/3 "2008-12-07T00:43:20Z")
I don’t have one that exactly matches either of your categories, but in the absence of any other suggestions I do know that [Inverting The Pyramid](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inverting-Pyramid-History-Football-Tactics/dp/0752889958/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228610094&sr=8-1), a history of football tactics, has garnered very good reviews lately. I think it’s quite broad-ranging, too, so despite being written by an English footballer, it’s not narrowly focused on English tactics (it’d be more of a pamphlet were that the case). > **[Jonathan Wilson](https://www.timeout.com/london/music/jonathan-wilson)** > > Bella Union-signed North Carolinan brings upbeat, well-paced country songwriting with hints of the Eagles and Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young. [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sport/Book-review-Inverting-the-Pyramid.4260423.jp](http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sport/Book-review-Inverting-the-Pyramid.4260423.jp) ---
**Author:** ![MichaelQReilly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@MichaelQReilly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelQReilly)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-book-recommendations/475922/4 "2008-12-08T01:46:33Z")
Does he have a favorite teams? I can recommend a couple good team specific books. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-book-recommendations/475922/5 "2008-12-08T17:57:23Z")
> [@Dead\_Badger](#): > > I don’t have one that exactly matches either of your categories, but in the absence of any other suggestions I do know that [Inverting The Pyramid](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Inverting-Pyramid-History-Football-Tactics/dp/0752889958/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228610094&sr=8-1), a history of football tactics, has garnered very good reviews lately. I think it’s quite broad-ranging, too, so despite being written by an English footballer, it’s not narrowly focused on English tactics (it’d be more of a pamphlet were that the case). > > [Jonathan Wilson | Music in London](http://www.timeout.com/london/books/review/book/577/inverting_the_pyramid_by_jonathan_wilson.html) > > [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sport/Book-review-Inverting-the-Pyramid.4260423.jp](http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/sport/Book-review-Inverting-the-Pyramid.4260423.jp) Thanks! I ended up getting him that and [The Bumper Book of Football](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bumper-Book-Football-Hunter-Davies/dp/1847241379/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228759002&sr=1-1). ---
**Author:** ![fortytwo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f9ae1b/32.png) [@fortytwo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fortytwo)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2008, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-book-recommendations/475922/6 "2008-12-08T18:33:52Z")
Good thing I previewed before posting! Since you have already bought some books it makes my post redundant. I don’t think you’ve bought what you described in your OP though. An in-depth collection of every statistic would take dozens of books. Back in the 50s I had a such a book, or to be more precise I had 8 books. Even then it was a bit sketchy on pre ww1football. For example look at this book covering 2007 [http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=440732&root=reviews&](http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=440732&root=reviews&). Over a thousand pages for just one year. If you do find yourself searching for something try using “football” as an alternative to “soccer” there’ll be more choice. And by the way it’s the Premier League, none of that arty farty French stuff here. Oops, sorry I meant to delete my original post and leave the first two lines. I did like the look of the book in the link though. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Badger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/848f3c/32.png) [@Dead\_Badger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Badger)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-book-recommendations/475922/7 "2008-12-09T00:44:22Z")
> [@MaxTheVool](#): > > Thanks! I ended up getting him that and [The Bumper Book of Football](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bumper-Book-Football-Hunter-Davies/dp/1847241379/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1228759002&sr=1-1). Cool; I hope they go over well. 🙂 Last time I bought football accoutrements for a younger relative (shinguards for my 11-year-old cousin), it turned out he’d been dropped from the school team two weeks previously. D’oh. ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-book-recommendations/475922/8 "2008-12-09T01:22:37Z")
> [@Vetch](#): > > An in-depth collection of every statistic would take dozens of books. Back in the 50s I had a such a book, or to be more precise I had 8 books. Even then it was a bit sketchy on pre ww1football. > For example look at this book covering 2007 [http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=440732&root=reviews&](http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/story?id=440732&root=reviews&). Over a thousand pages for just one year. Yeah, but I think the two I got are a good mix. I’ve seen US publications which are phone-book-sized super-thin-page super-tiny-print things which are massive baseball stats collections. I’m sure such a thing exists for football, but couldn’t find it. > [@](#): > > If you do find yourself searching for something try using “football” as an alternative to “soccer” there’ll be more choice. I did. Although, oddly, when I searched on [amazon.co.uk](http://amazon.co.uk) for “Football” in books, one of the top hits I got was for a book about US College Football. Weird. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2008, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/football-soccer-book-recommendations/475922/9 "2008-12-09T01:35:27Z")
Possibly not quite the right gift for a 10 year old. But this one an amazing font of useless football trivia… > **[The Knowledge: Your Football Questions Answered: Amazon.co.uk: James Dart:...](https://www.amazon.co.uk/Knowledge-Football-Questions-Answered-Guardian/dp/0852651082)** > > Buy The Knowledge: Your Football Questions Answered by James Dart (ISBN: 9780852651087) from Amazon's Book Store. Everyday low prices and free delivery on eligible orders.