Football Against The Enemy

Throughout the world football is a potent force in the lives of billions of people. Focusing national, political and cultural identities, football is the medium through which the world's hopes and fears, passions and hatreds are expressed.

Simon Kuper travelled to 22 countries from South Africa to Italy, from Russia to the USA, to examine the way football has shaped them. At the same time he tried to find out what lies behind each nation's distinctive style of play from the carefree self-expression of the Brazilians to the anxious calculation of the Italians.

During his journeys he met an extraordinary range of players, politicians and - of course - the fans themselves, all of whom revealed in their different ways the unique place football has in the life of the planet.

“A terrific book”

: deftly written, fascinating in its sweep as the scene shifts from continent to continent, surprisingly confident in its execution and mature in most of its judgements, yet at the same time fresh in the way that only a young man's work really can be.' Guardian
Another great work on football. Why was it undiscovered for so long... effervescent and hilarious. Independent
He writes with immense authority... his book is also hysterically funny. This is a wonderful book written under great duress at times and full of the spirit of youthful exuberance and curiosity that runs way beyond the touchline. Time Out
Quality football books have mushroomed... but none matches this global examination for originality, breadth and sheer courage. Mail on Sunday
If you like football, read it. If you don't like football, read it. -- Simon Barnes The Times
Fascinating... Simon Kuper has written a riveting book. Irish Times
Perceptive and highly entertaining. Financial Times
It's a great idea for a book, so much so that it's surprising no one has thought of it before... There's unlikely to be a better football book published this year. When Saturday Comes
Excellent... An entertaining and incisive book that anyone with the slightest interest in football should read. World Soccer
A sweeping, panoramic view of the culture surrounding the game, an insight into how often and how profoundly twenty-two men and a ball can become a cipher for ideology, religion and love. A colossal achievement. Ikon
Part anthropology, part travelogue, all fascinating... Two decades after the book's publication, saturation football coverage and internet access means that fans are far more cosmopolitan in their outlooks than ever before. However, Football Against The Enemy remains the only book to take a definitive sweep on world football, and explain how political and cultural issues influence the game across the globe. FourFourTwo
Seminal. The 42
Picking up this book, you will understand the depth of the game. Football Paradise
accomplished and quirky footballing travelogue... remarkably good; arguably the first and the best in the n0w-not-so-new wave of 'literary' football tomes that have followed... We all know football as a global obsession, these fascinating tales show just how far its reach extends. Esquire
One of the most deliciously moreish football books... a collection of excellent, energetically compiled essays. -- Barney Ronay Guardian

Simon Kuper is the author of Football Against the Enemy and writes for the Observer and the Financial Times.

Throughout the world football is a potent force in the lives of billions of people. Focusing national, political and cultural identities, football is the medium through which the world's hopes and fears, passions and hatreds are expressed.Simon Kuper travelled to 22 countries from South Africa to Italy, from Russia to the USA, to examine the way football has shaped them. At the same time he tried to find out what lies behind each nation's distinctive style of play from the carefree self-expression of the Brazilians to the anxious calculation of the Italians.During his journeys he met an extraordinary range of players, politicians and - of course - the fans themselves, all of whom revealed in their different ways the unique place football has in the life of the planet.

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