The definitive book about soccer. With a new foreword for the American edition.
There may be no cultural practice more global tha... read full description
There may be no cultural practice more global tha... read full description
reviews
Jul 30, 2011
Giano
rated it: 
This is a great, 900-page book. The astute reader will note that the first adjective is somewhat surprising in light of the second.
Here's what I can tell you about The Ball Is Round: As you read it, you will feel your brain getting bigger. Seriously. The author, David Goldblatt, is not only an expert on the history of soccer; he has an incredible grasp of the vectors that shape world history – from colonialism, to economics, to military power, to governmental competencies. The subtitl More...
Here's what I can tell you about The Ball Is Round: As you read it, you will feel your brain getting bigger. Seriously. The author, David Goldblatt, is not only an expert on the history of soccer; he has an incredible grasp of the vectors that shape world history – from colonialism, to economics, to military power, to governmental competencies. The subtitl More...
Apr 16, 2011
Damon
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I have read many soccer history books, but none have ever reached the width and scale of what David Goldblatt has achieved. He has covered almost every single country in the World, and he has broken up the chapters into fifteen year sections to make it more digestable. But even so, he has packed so much information into this book, that it is sometimes hard to keep all the dates, numbers, names and teams straight. I have been forced to pull out my atlas a number of times to help me keep a
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Mar 23, 2011
Caroline
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This book is immense. It was really hard-going, not because it wasn't interesting, but because it was so amazingly comprehensive. It really does cover the complete global history of football, right from way back when man first kicked something round, right up to the present day, covering every continent, every competition, and damn near every team. It's exhaustive. One of its major virtues is that it doesn't take football out geopolitical context, as so many sports histories tend to. Football ha
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Dec 21, 2011
Christopher
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This was an interesting read but I think the author failed in his central aim - why is football so popular? He tried to explain its popularity by referring to sociological and economic theory but he actually partly succeeded when just reciting the games or interesting ancedotes. I was expecting much more of this but instead there was much relating of football to theory which was extremely ponderous to read through and don't get me started on the conclusion. I hardly ever skim read but this was s
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Jul 03, 2009
Jogar01
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This history of soccer was ok. Very heavy on the European development of soccer. It has good passages on how soccer tied to the African national liberation movements. For example, in aparheid South Africa, soccer was the exclusive sport of the exploited, and rugby and cricket were the sports of the Afrikaneers and colonists. At close to 1,000 pages, the book becomes repetitive. Only for the true fans and perhaps for those interested in the links between sports and social movements (especially as
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Jun 14, 2010
Bobby
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I'm not really sure where to start... so bullet points:
--very long, but very well organized. I was never lost and Goldblatt covers the entire world, I mean every where but... Mexico which was weird. But if Mexico is the only country he 'forgets' well it's not the end of the world.
--The book becomes weaker as it moves along, the beginning is fantastic (how football started, why the US/Canada/Aussies rejected football, why the Scots took to it, the spread of the game in Europe and La More...
--very long, but very well organized. I was never lost and Goldblatt covers the entire world, I mean every where but... Mexico which was weird. But if Mexico is the only country he 'forgets' well it's not the end of the world.
--The book becomes weaker as it moves along, the beginning is fantastic (how football started, why the US/Canada/Aussies rejected football, why the Scots took to it, the spread of the game in Europe and La More...
Sep 09, 2009
Ryan Patrick
rated it:
To be honest, at first I thought I would never get through this immense tome. Once I started reading, though, the pages just flew by. Amazing. To think of the amount of the research required to write this book is mind-boggling. I loved how the author put the history of soccer into its geo-political context throughout the world. Yes, the book spends more time in Europe than anywhere else, but the book itself justifies this since it makes it clear that Europe is still the leader of the footballing
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Jan 21, 2008
Rich
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Like most Americans, I grew up with an indifference (some would say ignorance) to the passions of global football. For a variety of reasons, within the past two years I have found the sport to be one of the most fascinating expressions of athletic art and have, in my own way, become a devotee of the phenomenon.
Goldblatt is an English author who grew up with the passion of a fan, but who brings to the sport the eye of an historian and a sociologist. The book is broken down chronologic
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Dec 29, 2008
Only about 20 pages in, but the preface and introduction are awesome; explaining why soccer is not an American sport. The first chapter is a bit tedious so far, talking about the ubiquity of ball games in ancient civilizations and why they didn't catch on. Now he's discussing the codification of the rules of soccer in England. One thing that has struck about this part is how new a game soccer really is.
Oct 26, 2009
Lisa
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The first few chapters about the evolution of the game were interesting, but I started to lose interest in the chapter about how football leagues started in practically every country in the world, especially since the main idea was the same for most of them--British-educated men start clubs in all parts of the empire, then locals get involved and the sport takes off. I am mostly interested in UK/European football, so I skimmed to the parts concerning those types of topics. The author obviously d
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Dec 27, 2009
Marc
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Loved it!!! It seemed daunting at first, being almost 1000 pages but I had to finish it. Usually I would take a break from a large book and read something else for a while but I could not bring myself to do that with this title. It was very informative and really exposed the underside of the Beautiful Game.
Jul 10, 2010
thegift
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everything you ever need to know about football, everything you do not need to know, as well. i wanted to read this before the world cup championship game... just made it. this tells me many things i did not know about the game, clarifies my hopes for the game, outlines the way it has become the world's game- and how intimately bound with economics, technology, politics, even religion. it is sobering to realize this elevation of a game to a sort of lens on our world. we can admit the world is
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Feb 13, 2011
Ashley
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i loved this - it was meticulously detailed and well-organized. considering that it gave a history of soccer on six out of seven continents, it had to be. for a lengthy non-fiction book, it was a really enjoyable read.
Jul 16, 2009
Dave
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A fascinating review of the development and growth of soccer globally. The author recounts soccer's relationship to and impact on national politics in Europe, South America, Africa and Asia.
May 26, 2008
Saadiq
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This 900-page behemoth explains the 150-year evolution of soccer through history, sociology, and economics.
It's simultaneously both too much and too little: too much focus on the big picture and cause-and-effect, and too little focus on the individual lives and stories that humanize history and make it compelling. Soccer captures the heart and imagination like no other sport, but only glimpses of that passion are offered within these antiseptic pages.
Framing a stor More...
It's simultaneously both too much and too little: too much focus on the big picture and cause-and-effect, and too little focus on the individual lives and stories that humanize history and make it compelling. Soccer captures the heart and imagination like no other sport, but only glimpses of that passion are offered within these antiseptic pages.
Framing a stor More...
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Jun 02, 2008
Mike
rated it:
Phew. If you wan all-encompassing history of soccer, this is it. It's not just about the game and the results (though, frankly, I would've liked a little more on the the players and great games since that's the part I'm interested in most), but everything else. Part "How Soccer Defines the World" and part "World Soccer Yearbook," it was fascinating to see Goldblatt weave in and out of different countries and times. The amount of research that went into this book must've been
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May 23, 2011
Joe
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Probably a little more comprehensive than I was looking for, but still an interesting read. I think more focus on bigger matches and events and news would have been better than such a detailed analysis about every geographical region, many of which are pretty irrelevant.
Nov 23, 2009
you would like this book because it shows a lot of information of famous soccer players of the history
Jan 06, 2012
Mike
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Extremely thorough history. Not for those with just a passing interest but outstanding for others.
Feb 01, 2009
Gregory
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Superb. Full history of football. It takes quite a while but it is worth it if you are football crazy such as me.
Aug 24, 2010
Kiah
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900 pages of football history! GLORY! This history was at times a bit overwhelming with the ridiculous amount of information contained in these 900 pages, but everything is incredibly interesting. Goldblatt covers every aspect of the history of soccer, from where the sport originated to how it spread around the world to how and why soccer became such a popular sport (or not so popular sport) around the world. It took me a while to get through this monster, but it was worth it (though I do wish I
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Aug 30, 2008
Sarah
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Literally covering the global history of soccer, this book looks at the history of soccer in every part of the world and how the game was influenced by or had an impact on, current socio-economic status of a particular country. It also touches on how soccer was used in certain countries (Germany, Russia, Argentina, Brazil, etc.) as a measure of military power and influence at various points in time. It's a little tough to get through, but well worth the effort if you are a true fan of the beauti
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Jun 27, 2009
Manda
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This is an exhaustive, comprehensive history that tells you everything you could possibly want to know about the beginnings of soccer as amateur spectacle to the massive professional leagues of today, as well as providing relevant sociopolitical history to go along with it. In this book, the game is often a microcosm of the political situations going on around it.
Mar 18, 2008
Tim
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This book is probably only interesting to a certain sub-set of the population. Luckily, I'm a part of that sub-set. While I didn't really learn anything earth-shattering or new reading this, it did provide some interesting background on areas of the game that I had little knowledge of. It's an excellent companion to watching the History of Soccer DVD set.
Jun 14, 2011
Liz
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Finally finished! An excellent book, but not for the faint of heart. Goldblatt discusses soccer around the world, and examines it from every angle. The book is a bit of a challenge - it has the depth of a monograph without the specificity of focus, and the volume of information can be quite intense.
May 01, 2011
Robert
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A bit surprised by how well Goldblatt intertwines global geopolitics and cultural modernization with a very exhaustive history of soccer, itself. I've learned more about the history of many places from this book than I have from most other books I've read or documentaries I've watched.
