5. The Ball Is Round David Goldblatt
With over one thousand pages, Id argue that The Ball Is Round is the bible of football. It documents everything from the much debated origins of football and the introduction of rules by the FA to the rise of football in Africa and Asia. As I mentioned earlier, football is a story which has to be explained within the context of the social and political situation in each country. Being able to see how each country developed their football history both individually and collectively is fascinating. The book covers so many memorable stories, from the tragic air crash in 93 that killed a majority of the members of the Zambia national team to the great 1950 World Cup upset. Every legendary team that dominated a period of football, from Arrigo Sacchis AC Milan to the wonderful whites of Real Madrid; each player that wowed the millions of fans, the creativity of Johan Cruyff to the dazzling runs of Maradona; and the matches that defined a nation; they are all covered in this book. Each page has something that even the most dedicated of football fans will not have known, which makes it a book that youll read again and again. It takes all the best elements of football, the dedication of the fans and the inspirational moments that inspire them; and all the worst, the African warlords who interfered, the football stadiums that were used for mass murder in South America and the scandals which hit every nation from Russia to Thailand. If you love football, youll love this book. Its everything you could ever want in a football book.