The Cambridge Companion to Football

Description

Football is the world's most popular sport. It is a cultural phenomenon and a global media spectacle. For its billions of fans, it serves as a common language. But where does its enduring popularity come from? Featuring essays from prominent experts in the field, scholars and journalists, this Companion covers ground seldom attempted in a single volume about football. It examines the game's oft-disputed roots and traces its development through Europe, South America and Africa, analysing whether resistance to the game is finally beginning to erode in China, India and the United States. It dissects the cult of the manager and how David Beckham redefined sporting celebrity. It investigates the game's followers, reporters and writers, as well as its most zealous money makers and powerful administrators. A valuable resource for students, scholars and general readers, The Cambridge Companion to Football is a true and faithful companion for anyone fascinated by the people's game.

Rob Steen is an author, sportswriter and journalism lecturer. A contributor to The Cambridge Companion to Cricket and an acclaimed Cricinfo columnist since 2008, he has also written for, among others, The Guardian, The Independent, The Sunday Times, The Financial Times, India Today, the Melbourne Age and Marxism Today. His previous books include Spring, Summer, Autumn (William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award runner-up), biographies of Desmond Haynes and David Gower (Cricket Society Literary Award winner) and 500-1: The Miracle of Headingley '81 (Cricket Society Literary Award runner-up). He edited the cricket journal The New Ball, and his investigation for The Wisden Cricketer, 'Whatever Happened to the Black Cricketer?', won the UK section of the 2005 EU Journalism Award 'for diversity, against discrimination'. His next books, to be published in 2014, are Sports Journalism: A Multimedia Primer, 2nd edition and Touchlines and Floodlights: A Personal History of Spectator Sport. Jed Novick is a journalist, author and Senior Lecturer in Sport Journalism at the University of Brighton. Huw Richards is a freelance journalist and sports historian.