Stamping Grounds: Exploring Liechtenstein and its World Cup Dream

Description

Charlie Connelly follows the Liechtenstein national football team through their defeat-strewn qualifying campaign for the 2002 World Cup. Drawn in a group with Israel, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Austria and mighty Spain, it was hard ever to see the principality's part-time players scoring even one goal, never mind adding to its meagre international points total. So what motivates a nation of 30,000 people and 11 villages to keep plugging away despite the inevitability of defeat? Travelling to all of Liechenstein's qualifying matches, Charlie Connelly examined what motivates a team proudly to take the field in the shirts of Liechtenstein despite the knowledge that they are, with notably few exceptions, in for a damn good hiding. Sampling the delights of the capital Vaduz such as the Postage Stamp Museum, the State Art Museum and, er, the Postage Stamp Museum again, Connelly provides an evocative and witty account of the land where every year on National Day the sovereign invites the population into his garden for a glass of wine.

Charlie Connelly is a freelance writer specialising in travel and sport. He will be presenting BBC1's THE HOLIDAY PROGRAMME this autumn, and has been featured on Radio 4's EXCESS BAGGAGE, as well as writing for the award-winning Scottish Sunday Herald Magazine

'A damned good read ... charming, off the wall and well worth a tenner" SUNDAY TIMES 'Connelly has a relaxed style and an intelligent eye for people and places ... his hilarious account of following the Liechtenstein national team should be swallowed whole in one sitting' THE TIMES 'A wonderfully recondite book' OBSERVER