Essential Books Every Soccer Fan Should Read

Soccer isn't just a game. It's a lifestyle that people eat, sleep, and breathe. That's why there's more than just soccer balls and shirts lining sports store shelves throughout the world. There are soccer-themed movies, soccer-themed parties, and entire parts of cities that shut down post-game.

With games, parties, movies, and more all dedicated to the sport, it comes as no surprise that there's also a full genre of books dedicated to the sport and its superstars. The following titles are books every soccer fan should read if they want to feel the excitement of the ball.

Fever Pitch has long been known as one of the best books every soccer fan should read—and it was even made into a moviei as a result. This classic book follows the author's dive into the soccer fandom craze that has been taking over Britain.

This book is humorous at times, and thought-provoking at others. There are moments of toxic masculinity, and moments where you will feel for Hornby as he obsesses over his favorite sport. It's a beautiful homage to football, and possibly soccer too.

One of the books every soccer fan should read if they want to really understand the sport's roots is The Ball is Round. This book tells the story of how soccer came to be, and how its popularity spread throughout the world.

It's hard to imagine, but at one point, there was no such thing as soccer. Goldblatt explains the unique beginnings of the world's most popular sport, how it evolved from Rugby and Football, and other amazing revelations that will make you appreciate the round ball all the more.

Jonathan Wilson's book has long been seen as one of the best soccer coaching handbooks of all time. That alone is reason why it's one of the most interesting books every soccer fan should read.

Inverting the Pyramid is all about the many different football tactics that helped evolve the game and evolve the careers of the top soccer coaches in Europe. Soccer coaches still swear by this manual, and that should tell you volumes.

If you're looking for books every soccer fan should read to get a better appreciation for the game, look no further than Outcasts United. This isn't just a book about soccer; it's a book about how this sport impacted an entire community, and helped save refugees from serious problems.

Soccer can unite people in ways most other sports simply cannot. Once you read the story about the creation of the Fugees soccer team, you'll understand what we mean.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic is one of the most popular soccer players in the history of the sport—and as such, has become one of the most highly paid people in soccer. It's hard to imagine, but at one point, Zlatan was just your average guy.

I Am Zlatan is an autobiography that tells about his rise to fame, the biggest soccer games he's played, and what it really is like to be a soccer superstar. Because of all the game gossip, it's hard to deny that this is one of those books every soccer fan should read at least once.

Incendiary? Well, very possible, especially if you always root for Premier League clubs. However, Simon Kuper's got a lot of interesting points about the economics of soccer teams and how it'll affect the future of the game in upcoming years.

Among books every soccer fan should read, Soccernomics will be the one that will most likely help you figure out who to bet for, where soccer will be headed, and how to get closer to the action than ever before. It's smart on so many levels, and will be sure to please economy majors and soccer fiends alike.

As the title suggests, Club Soccer 101 is a basic guide to the biggest names of the game. (It's not, however, a guide to the basic rules of soccer.) Club Soccer has got over 100 different stories of the biggest teams, stars, and stories in soccer history.

Anyone who wants to hear amazing stories that happen on the soccer field needs to grab this book. It's the definitive guide to just about every single major happening in soccer history.

James Montague is a huge soccer fan, and his distinctive passion for the sport comes through in full force in When Friday Comes. This book is a testament to the power of soccer to help affect social change in one of the roughest parts of the world: the Middle East.

When Friday Comes is written proof that soccer can be the key to helping war-torn societies change and find a new community strength. The moral of the story? No matter where you are in the world or what your background is, soccer can unite you. It's a beautiful story of a beautiful game.

If you need to grasp what soccer means to the world, this will help.

If you couldn't guess from Soccernomics, there is a legitimate economy behind the game of soccer. At one point in the 90s, German soccer teams were the laughingstock of the soccer scene. Now, German soccer teams are regularly ranked as the most highly trained in the world.

It's really mind-boggling to think about it, and Honigstein was one of many soccer fans to wonder how it could happen. So, he decided to find out. Das Reboot's writing took him around the world. What he learned was incredible.

This book has amazing interviews, fascinating looks into the team's cultivation, and much, much more!

Martí Perarnau isn't your typical author. Rather, he's one of the most elite soccer writers in the world. Pep Confidential is a first-look at the inner workings of Pep Guardiola's first season at Bayern Munich. No other person has ever had access to so many soccer stars in one single moment.

If you love the idea of getting closer to your favorite athletes and managers, Pep Confidential will score highly among your own list of the books every soccer player should read.