The story of how football transformed the world, told through nine World Cups - by one of our most talented football writers
2nd October 2025
Paperback
PRODUCT INFORMATION
Summary
The story of how football transformed the world, told through nine World Cups - by one of our most talented football writers
Description
The football World Cup is the biggest sporting competition on Earth - a chance every four years for the greatest players to win international glory, and a month-long media spectacle that's watched by an audience of billions.But the tournament has changed beyond recognition since the inaugural event in Montevideo, Uruguay, in July 1930. What was once a semi-professional meeting beset by haphazard play has evolved to become a game of multinational buyouts, dubious ethics and questionable aims - and the new era of football has much to tell us about the globalised world.Simon Kuper is among the vanishingly small number of writers who have attended every World Cup since 1990. The World at My Feet is his journey to find the heart of football, through the nine tournaments he's experienced first-hand - from watching matches in half-empty stands during Italia 90, a tournament that at times felt like a village fete, to witnessing the French triumph at home in 1998, South Africa's national dream in 2010 and the troubling legacy of Qatar 2022.Told on the pitch and in the stands, and in the pubs, front rooms and on the streets, this is the story of how football has changed the world.
Critic Reviews
Praise for Barça: A masterfully written history of the world's greatest football club -- Gary Lineker
An instant classic -- Bill Buford
Simply unmissable -- Amy Raphael
A masterclass on football -- John Carlin
Praise for Soccernomics: Magnificent Guardian
An Arsène Wenger of a book - more thoughtful than most of its rivals and, by football standards, positively intellectual. The Times
About the Author
Simon Kuper is an author and Financial Times journalist, born in Uganda and raised around the world. An Oxford graduate, he later attended Harvard as a Kennedy Scholar. He has written for the Guardian,Observer, and The Times and is also the author of Chums, The Happy Traitor, Football Against the Enemy and Barça. He lives in Paris with his family.
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2nd October 2025
