The Age of Football

December 15, 2019
A learned, wide-ranging study of football--soccer, that is--as something that's much more than just a game. The French philosopher Guy Debord devoted much attention to the spectacle, which is meant, writes Goldblatt (The Games: A Global History of the Olympics, 2016), to "not just distract but commodify, blind and stupefy too." That's one function of sports--namely, to keep us from recognizing what's going on around us. The author, who may know as much about soccer as any person on the planet, takes the story far beyond that, into realms that particularly embrace politics, those systems that make things happen to people. One instance among dozens is the place of soccer in Hungary, a nation headed by a neofascist who once played the game himself and who has built an outsized stadium in his home village, "held up by huge, breathtaking trusses of laminated mahogany set in the great fan patterns of a Gothic cathedral." Other intellectuals come and go in Goldblatt's pages, including the Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges, who commented, "football is popular because stupidity is popular." The sneer is unnecessary, but the fact is that soccer is the world's single most popular spot--and is even gaining ground in the U.S. and China, which had previously ignored it. Goldblatt does a lot of on-the-ground footwork to track the game's fortunes, observing that Asia is emerging as a soccer power; Africa has superb players hampered by lack of money; and the game is growing by leaps even as the corruption surrounding it is breathtaking and even if it often seems an expression of warfare by other means, as when, in a match between South Korea and China, "Chinese authorities surrounded the Korean squad and the stadium with thousands of troops." There's no corner of the globe that Goldblatt doesn't explore, and his book updates and overshadows Franklin Foer's How Soccer Explains the World (2004). Superb: Essential reading not just for fans of the sport, but also for students of geopolitics.

COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 2, 2020
Sportswriter Goldblatt (The Ball Is Round) presents a titanic, often dense volume on “the beautiful game” and its cultural transcendency and relevance in the 21st century. The sport’s global popularity, Goldblatt argues, has resulted in soccer’s increased attention from politicians, not for “merely symbolic” reasons but also as “an object of state policy and intervention.” Goldblatt begins in Africa, where he explores the roots of colonialism and the ways that soccer proliferated across the continent, focusing on the cultural significance of South Africa hosting the 2010 World Cup. He then observes soccer’s rise to prominence in the Middle East and highlights the controversy surrounding the bribery scandal and backroom negotiations behind the decision for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, while also noting the subsequent charges of human rights violations regarding the migrant labor force building the stadiums. He closes with chapters on FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, and corruption, particularly about former FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s outsize power and his 2015 resignation amid a sprawling corruption scandal, and on the growing importance of soccer in Putin’s Russia, exemplified by the leader’s growing desire to spread the country’s “sphere of influence” in global sports outside of the Olympic sports. Goldblatt’s work is invaluable for a wide swath of readers, from soccer fans to those with interests in politics, cultural studies, and social justice.

March 6, 2020

Soccer (or football, outside of the United States) is the most popular sport in the world, and still growing. Author and podcaster Goldblatt (The Ball Is Round) spent a decade researching soccer's past century, including its political, financial, and societal impact around the globe; the rise of the women's game; and the corruption and controversy that has inevitably crept into the sport. Also included in this definitive history are examinations of soccer's uneasy associations with factions such as the F�d�ration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), multibillionaire owners, and the betting industry. From Russia and Australia to Asia and the Americas, Goldblatt's epic yet accessible study reveals how soccer is interwoven with every facet of the world's cultures. Fans of the game will find this absorbing, all-encompassing look at the globally beloved sport both reflects and unites humankind. VERDICT Goldblatt's talent for storytelling and clear organization of a vast amount of information makes this an important cornerstone addition for sports collections in both public and academic libraries, and readers with an interest in international socioeconomics.--Janet Davis, Darien P.L., CT

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2020
Goldblatt, author of the best-selling The Ball Is Round (2006), delivers a satisfying overview of the state of soccer in the twenty-first century that explores the sport's dramatic rise in popularity over the last 50 years. Telling details make the case for soccer's international prominence. English football is amazingly popular in Africa. President Pierre Nkurunziza of Burundi, for example, has declared his allegiance to Chelsea in England's Premier League. People all around the world alter their sleep schedules to rise in the middle of the night to watch their favorite clubs. A mining operation in Chile readjusted its shifts so miners could watch the national team. Goldblatt also examines some of the issues pervasive in the sport, from gender equality (virtually all women's professional teams are still coached by men) to the sometimes ugly business side and the game's scandal-ridden ruling bodies. Effectively linking all the detail into a macro view of the sport, both on the pitch and as a cultural phenomenon, Goldblatt shows exactly why soccer enthralls billions worldwide. A must for any sports collection.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)