A list of some of the best football books on the global game, chosen by World Football Index contributors and members of the WFI community.
General Football Books
The Ball is Round: A Global History of Football – David Goldblatt
The European Game: The Secrets of European Football Success – Daniel Fieldsend
Gunshots & Goalposts: The Story of Northern Irish Football – Benjamin Roberts
Buy Behind the Curtain: Football in Eastern Europe – Jonathan Wilson
McIlvanney on Football – Hugh McIlvanney
A Beer Before Lunch: Stories From Brazilian Bars – James Young
Football in Sun and Shadow: An Emotional History of World Cup Football – Eduardo Galeano
Football Against The Enemy – Simon Kuper
Manchester: A Football History – Gary James
Soccernomics – Simon Kuper, Stefan Szymanski
Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life – Alex Bellos
Fear and Loathing in La Liga: Barcelona vs Real Madrid – Sid Lowe
Football Dynamo: Modern Russia and the People’s Game – Marc Bennetts
Outcasts! The Lands That FIFA Forgot – Steve Menary
Angels With Dirty Faces: The Footballing History of Argentina – Jonathan Wilson
The Football Men – Simon Kuper
The Dirty Game: Uncovering the Scandal at FIFA – Andrew Jennings
Das Reboot: How German Soccer Reinvented Itself and Conquered the World – Raphael Honigstein
Thirty-One Nil: On the Road With Football’s Outsiders – James Montague
Biography
Jürgen Klopp: The Biography – Elmar Neveling
Pep Guardiola: Another Way of Winning – Guillem Balague
O, Louis: In Search of Louis van Gaal – Hugo Borst
Pep Confidential: Inside Pep Guardiola’s First Season at Bayern Munich – Martí Perarnau
Autobiography
Andrea Pirlo: I think therefore I play – Andrea Pirlo
My Turn: The Autobiography – Johan Cruyff
I Am Zlatan Ibrahimovic – Zlatan Ibrahimovic]
Stillness and Speed: My Story – Dennis Bergkamp
A Life in Football: My Autobiography – Ian Wright
The Romford Pelé: It’s only Ray Parlour’s autobiography – Ray Parlour
Football Tactics Books
Team Building: The Road to Success – Rinus Michels
The Coaching Philosophies of Louis Van Gaal and the Ajax Coaches – Henny Kormelink and Tjeu Seeverens
Inverting The Pyramid: The History Of Football Tactics – Jonathan Wilson