'GREAT' Independent

'TERRIFIC' Guardian

'WONDERFUL' Time Out

'QUALITY' Mail on Sunday

'DEFINITIVE' FourFourTwo

Winner of the William Hill Sports Book Award

Featured in FourFourTwo's list of 'The 10 Best Football Books Ever'

Featured in Esquire's 'Best Sports Books Ever Written'

Throughout the world, football is a potent force in the lives of billions of people. Whether national, political or cultural identities, football is the medium through which the world's hopes and fears, passions and hatreds are expressed.

Simon Kuper travelled to twenty-two countries from South Africa and Italy to Russia and the USA to examine the way football has shaped them. At the same time, he tried to find out what lies behind each nation's distinctive style of play, from the carefree self-expression of the Brazilians to the anxious calculation of the Italians. During his journeys he met an extraordinary range of players, politicians and - of course - the fans themselves, all of whom revealed in their different ways the unique place football has in the life of the planet.