A Beautiful Game: Football Through the Eyes of the World's Greatest Players

Description

Wherever you are on earth, it's only a matter of time before you will come across children playing football. Across every continent, football is a common language and a culture shared: a joy, a passion, an escape and an affirmation of identity understood and celebrated. For this unique collaborative project, football writer Tom Watt talked to over forty of the world's top footballers about growing up and falling in love with the game: Argentina's Lionel Messi and Brazil's Gilberto Silva; England's David James and Australia's Mark Schwarzer; Italy's Fabio Cannavaro; France's Franck Ribery; Japan's Shunsuke Nakamura and the world's most famous player, David Beckham, to name just a few. A Beautiful Game tells their stories, in the players' own words; stories of boys who would grow up to be heroes for a new generation of young players and fans. They look back to their childhoods, to their family homes, to their schoolrooms, to the friends they grew up with and to the places where they first played the game that has made them stars.

Tom Watt is an English actor, writer and broadcaster. TV, film and stage credits include EastEnders, Patriot Games and Fever Pitch. Tom has broadcast about football extensively in the UK and the US. He co-produced the innovative children s sports series, Rookies and created the successful Row Z for BBC Choice TV. After presenting sports shows over the past ten years for BBC and independent radio and TV stations, he is currently the lead presenter for BBC London s football coverage and hosts weekly programmes for Arsenal s club TV Channel. As well as writing on football for every major UK newspaper, Tom is the author of several books about the game. Previous Books: My Side, the bestselling autobiography of David Beckham; The End, A history of Arsenal FC; A Passion For The Game; The Greatest Stage, the official history of Wembley Stadium. Tom also produces school books based around football, the latest of which, a 12-book series called The Jags.