Our First XI
Selected by the Bookshop
With the 2026 Football World Cup underway, we've put together a squad of our favourite books on the beautiful game. There are so many great ones, we had to leave a few on the bench, but here are our starting XI... classics, new releases, tactics, travel and teamwork.
From the publisher:
‘Immaculately written, inspiring, sad and elegiac.’ Daily TelegraphWith a new introduction by David PeaceDuncan Edwards played his first game for Manchester United at the age of fifteen and Walter Winterbottom, then England…
From the publisher:
From the acclaimed and prize-winning author of The Damned Utd and Red or Dead comes another extraordinary novel about Britain, sport and the formative scars of our collective past.A TIMES, INDEPENDENT, FINANCIAL…
From the publisher:
Translated by Fionn Petch'A fascinating journey through the game's history [as] a vehicle of change' Shaka Hislop'Correia takes us around the world to examine how football has produced the kind of political energy that can change minds…
From the publisher:
The astonishing history of the rise, fall, and rise again of women’s football, from the late 19th century to the present day.DISCOVER THE STORY OF THE WOMEN WHO PAVED THE WAY FOR THE LIONESSES‘A truly important book; shines a…
From the publisher:
MARADONA is the definitive new biography of a true global icon, from world-renowned football writer and journalist Guillem Balague. Diego Armando Maradona was widely acclaimed as a genius. One of the greatest footballers of all time, he…
From the publisher:
'One of the greatest football novels ever written and a comic masterpiece' DJ Taylor' DJ Taylor'But is this story believable? Ah, it all depends upon whether you want it to believe it.' J.L. CarrIn their new all-buttercup-yellow-stripe,…
From the publisher:
What do we think about when we think about football? Football is about so many things: memory, history, place, social class, gender (especially masculinity, but increasingly femininity too), family identity, tribal identity, national…
From the publisher:
'Football is a pleasure that hurts'This unashamedly emotional history of football is a homage to the romance and drama, spectacle and passion of a 'great pagan mass'. Through stories of superstition, heartbreak, tragedy, luck, heroes and…
From the publisher:
Selected as a Book of the Year in The Times and Evening StandardKarl Ove Knausgaard is sitting at home in Skane with his wife, four small children and a dog. He is watching football on TV and falls asleep in front of the set. He likes 0-0…
From the publisher:
The fifteenth anniversary edition, fully revised and updated, of Jonathan Wilson’s modern classic.Jonathan Wilson pulls apart the finer details of the world’s game, tracing the global history of tactics, from modern pioneers…
From the publisher:
For many people watching football is mere entertainment, to some it’s more like a ritual; but to others, its highs and lows provide a narrative to life itself. But, for Nick Hornby, his devotion to the game has provided one of few…
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