The Power and the Glory: The History of the World Cup

by Jonathan Wilson

The first comprehensive history of the World Cup, the most watched sporting event on the planet, a global obsession that has become the greatest cultural event there has ever been offering a quadrennial insight into the broader currents of world history.

For readers of David Goldblatt and Franklin Foer, and for Coach Beard (of Ted Lasso) who devotedly read Jonathan Wilson’s classic book on soccer tactics Inverting the Pyramid, here is the definitive cultural and social history of the world’s greatest spectator event bar the World Cup. Nor since Eduardo Galeano’s epigrammatic  Soccer in Sun and Shadow has a book displayed the full century of  soccer history and all of its global significance to such captivating effect.
 

Genres: Sports, Football, History, Nonfiction, Soccer, Audiobook, Politics

576 pages, Hardcover

First published September 4, 2025

About the author

Jonathan Wilson is a British sports journalist and author who writes for a number of publications including the Guardian, the Independent and Sports Illustrated. He also appears on the Guardian football podcast, Football Weekly.

Reviews

[Ian]

I started this audiobook on 21 April, with the thought that I had best read it now, since by 20 July it will no longer be a history encompassing every tournament. As it happens I only just got it finished in time for the start of the upcoming one. It’s certainly the most comprehensive history of the World Cup that I’ve read.

There’s a lot of politics in here. That’s fair enough since, as the author says, the World Cup has never been just about football. Possibly the politics took over a bit in the last few chapters. I had to roll my eyes at what seemed an unnecessary reference to Brexit in the review of the 2018 tournament. The last chapter really focuses on the appalling abuse of the migrant workers in Qatar who built the stadiums for the 2022 championship - not that I disagreed with anything the author said about that.

The early tournaments had a sort of charmingly amateurish quality to them. The players from the 4 European countries who competed in 1930 regarded the whole thing as “a bit of a lark.” As late as 1950 only 13 countries competed in the finals. Right from the start though, there were a great many highly suspicious refereeing decisions, and multiple allegations of referees being bought. These suspicions have continued into the current century, though for recent tournaments the focus in the book is more on the astonishing levels of corruption involved in bidding to host the tournament. It has been almost impossible to be appointed as host country without extensive use of bribes, something many FIFA delegates viewed as simply a perk of the job.

The 1970 World Cup is the first one I can remember, and the book has plenty of nostalgic memories for people of my age.

It’s a bit impressionistic at times, and I often had a feeling that post-hoc rationalisations were being applied to explain victories and defeats. Still, a worthwhile read for those interested in the history of the World Cup.

I found the narration of the audiobook a little odd. There were times when there are longish pauses in the middle of a paragraph, but at other times the narrator jumps to a different subject without pausing for breath, and the listener doesn’t initially realise that the topic has changed.

[Lewis Watson]

Listen; fair play.

[Ken]

This was exactly the type of book I wanted to read during this current World Cup.
Obviously covering the previous 22 tournaments, there's an element of just scratching the surface - but we get a detailed look at memorable results and influential players involved.

One aspect that I appreciated was the process on how the hosts were picked each time.
We also get some political and world events that has had an impact too, like no tournament in 1942 and 1946 and why Brazil Switzerland and Sweden hosted them in the 1950's.
The reunification of Germany and the break up of Yugoslavia as examples.

I was also pleasantly suprised to see my team Brighton and The Amex Stadium mentioned!

It would have been nice to have all the results included as an appendix, but that's just a minor quibble.

[Philippe Beauvais]

Finished just in time for Canada’s historic qualifying win to the World Cup’s knockout stage! This book provided some much needed insight into the titanic political power of the beautiful game.

In my opinion, this book only slots in at 4 stars because it is both blessed and cursed with covering so much of the World Cup’s long history. When talking about players and coaches of the 30s to 50s, even a fairly knowledgeable football fan (which I consider myself), has trouble keeping up with the myriad of innovators and national heroes that pop up in this story. However, Wilson manages to synthesize close to 100 years of football in a brilliantly readable fashion, which can only be described as quite remarkable.

Especially striking was the influence that World Cup performances had on authoritarian regimes’ fates in South America, and the rampant corruption of today’s game as bribery reaches State to State levels.

Watching the current World Cup unfold, I cannot help but notice both the horrible bastardization of the world’s greatest sporting event, but also the unifying beauty of Cinderella stories and underdogs from all over the world giving it their all in the name of football.

[Tom Godfrey]

Jonathan Wilson has done it again. If Pickles the dog and Qatari bribes don’t get you in the mood for the World Cup then nothing will. Sorry that it took so long, I was watching the match.

[Kadin]

A timely read ahead of the World Cup in the U.S. this year. Jonathan Wilson's books are always very thoroughly researched and include some fascinating small details. It's remarkable how far the World Cup (and soccer, in general) has come from being played by part-time and out-of-shape barkeepers to being the height of athletic achievement on the world stage. And how political the most watched sporting tournament in the world always has been.

[Tom H-P]

The Power and the Glory: A New History of the World Cup

Jonathan Wilson. Paperback version.

A good book!

I enjoyed the political context, from mischievous chicanery to downright Machiavellian at times, as opposed to the interludes on tactical developments within the tournaments themselves. It is fascinating how often football has been a cultural adhesive that helped countries work through their sense of self in a domestic context as much as a nation’s style of played defined itself against others.

If there is criticism it is that there are a few typos and sometimes the paragraphs are a little disjointed. Also some of Wilson’s discussions of results, of the pathway to victory, are a touch teleological. That also bleeds into some perfunctory mentions of Brexit in the chapter of England’s exploits in 2018.

Nevertheless, Wilson has an eye for the curious little detail and a talent for the perfect phrase at the right time:
- Writing of Messi’s struggles to win the WC in 2014 and criticism he received in Argentina, ‘the problem with being the appointed Messiah is that when things go wrong, there will be cause for crucifixion.’ (p. 461).
- Or the coining by the Scottish head of the English FA Adam Crozier in relation to the England team of the early noughties as the ‘Golden Generation’, ‘which would haunt the side while encapsulating the spirit of entitlement that seems to undermine it, (p. 401).
- Or in Pelé’s embracement of the clamour around his public figure and commercial opportunities which ceded to his private personality ‘that division [between public figure and private individual] ceased to exist: the mask became the man’ (p. 207).

There is the sublime (over a period of six years Hungary lost only one of 51 matches: the 1954 WC Final (p. 110)) and the ridiculous (e.g. in sounding out support for England’s bid to host the 2006 World Cup, Paraguayan FIFA ExCo member Nicolás Leoz ‘demanded a knighthood, an invitation to the wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton and the FA Cup be named after him’ - worth a go I guess! (p.477)).

There are also astute selections of phrases to bring out the particular cultural context: ‘It is the Waterloo of the tropics’ wrote one Brazilian in relation to their 1950 loss to Uruguay in the final at their home World Cup that became known as the Maracanazo.

On the eve of the 2026 edition, one is reminded that history does not repeat itself, but it does rhyme: see the ticketing chaos of Spain 1982 where ‘Mundiespaña, the company set up to handle logistics took advantage of the monopoly position…usually at grossly inflated prices’ (p. 266).

It is hard to draw distinct phases, but the sweep through the tournaments does provide something of such. Pre 1974 the tournaments are chaotic and surprisingly amateurish. From 1974 and the advent of Havelange as FIFA’s commander-in-chief, there is a decidedly commercial slant to the tournaments which accelerates and is best seen in the decision to give a country with a poor footballing culture at the time (USA) the competition in 1994, the expansion to 32 teams in France in 1998, and (albeit following Havelange’s departure) the ushering in of the Global Game with the awarding of it to Japan and South Korea in 2002. The tournaments from 2010 onwards appear to have been another inflection point - as from then onwards, FIFA has taken 100 per cent of broadcast, sponsorship, licensing and ticketing revenues, which previously they shared with the host nation(s) (p. 432).

Poor or extremely generous referring and/or corruption seem perennial.

Elsewhere, other notorious moments are provided helpful context. Zindane’s red card in the 2006 final is well known. Wilson notes however that it was the fourteenth red card of his career, twelve of them for retaliating after provocation (p. 409).

The best teams never to win it? They seem to have been: Hungary 1954 (Puskas), Netherlands 1974 (Cruyff, Neeskens) and Brazil 1982 (Socrates, Zico).

One is left wondering if Jules Rimet is correct, that ‘the World Cup was about using football to foster understanding amongst nations’ or if it has always been more closely hewn to Orwell’s view of football - ‘war without the shooting’!

[Dan Howarth]

An epic undertaking. Well researched as you'd expect from Wilson and written with his usual knowing panache. Superb.

[Abhi Varadarajan]

This didn't focus on the tactics quite as much, giving brief overviews of the tournaments on-field for each team, but it did a fantastic job tying the politics of the era into the storylines of each (important) team at that tournament. Very impressive example of showing how soccer goes beyond the field in so much of the world.

[Henry Stacey]

Read this during the WC, enjoyed it but was a bit of a slog.
Only criticism is that the author says Sam Allardyce was the West Ham manager for the situation when they signed Tevez and subsequently got the points deduction. This is wrong as Allardyce didn’t manage them for a good while after, so it makes me think if they can get something in the modern section wrong and let this influence the narrative then who’s to say the rest of it isn’t full of errors etc. made me lose trust in what I was reading but it was a good read and would have been 4 stars if not for that

[Michael Prescott]

An excellent analysis of every World Cup to date as well as providing an accompanying socioeconomic, political, and historical context to each. Fascinating read!

[Elizabeth]

*Thanks to NetGalley for an eARC of this book*

There is nothing objectively wrong with this book, but I have been trying to read it since October, and I am still only one third of the way through it.

I think the information and writing style are excellently researched and presented, but I prefer my histories to have less game-by-game play back type description. I am someone who does not picture things when I read and I think the constant descriptions of games and plays meant that I was constantly lost in the words and disconnecting from the overall narrative.

This is definitely a me issue and not a book issue though and so I do wholeheartedly recommend this title to anyone who is interested in the World Cup and in the ways that sport and politics have always mixed.

[Charlotte]

what a slog! it’s a 20 hour long list of facts, innit?

[Desirae]

I am probably not the typical audience for The Power and the Glory: The History of the World Cup. Soccer—or football, depending on where you are standing—is not my sport. I have never been the person who can explain an offside call, identify every player on a field, or understand why an entire stadium is losing its collective mind over a ball being kicked into a net. My relationship with the sport is considerably more cultural than athletic. After taking four years of French in high school, I can't help but cheer for Les Bleus and Les Bleues, and the 2026 World Cup made that attachment considerably more entertaining.

Jonathan Wilson's book, published in 2025, attempts something enormous: to tell the history of the World Cup from its beginnings in 1930 through Qatar in 2022, while arguing that the tournament is about considerably more than what happens on the pitch. Wilson examines football as a vehicle for nationalism, propaganda, diplomacy, corruption, identity, and cultural transformation. It is part sports history and part political history, moving from Mussolini's Italy to postwar Germany, Brazil's emergence as a footballing superpower, Argentina's military dictatorship, the scandals surrounding FIFA, and eventually the controversies of Russia and Qatar.

And honestly, this was the part I found most interesting. I came into this book knowing considerably more about French pastries than football, so the historical context was what kept me engaged. The World Cup repeatedly appears as a kind of enormous international stage where countries aren't simply competing for a trophy—they are presenting versions of themselves to the world.

Wilson's account of the 1930s shows how quickly the tournament became entangled with authoritarian politics, most notably Mussolini's Italy in 1934. Later, the 1954 victory of West Germany becomes something much larger than a sporting triumph: it represented a country beginning to reintegrate itself into the international community after World War II. Brazil's 1958 victory similarly becomes a story about national identity and overcoming deeply rooted ideas about race and inferiority.

Then there is 1970, Brazil, Pelé, and the almost mythological quality surrounding that team. Wilson uses that tournament as a kind of high point—the moment when football seemed capable of being beautiful, joyful, and uncomplicated, before the machinery surrounding the sport became increasingly commercialized and political. From there the story grows darker: the Soccer War between Honduras and El Salvador, Argentina's 1978 tournament under a military junta, the political mythology surrounding Maradona in 1986, Croatia's emergence in 1998, FIFA's increasingly complicated relationship with money and power, and finally the controversies surrounding Russia and Qatar.

There are also these bizarre little historical treasures scattered throughout the book that I absolutely loved. The stolen World Cup trophy being discovered by a dog is exactly the kind of historical footnote that makes me sit up and say, Wait, what? There are stories of corruption, political maneuvering, scandals, strange characters, and the sometimes astonishing lengths people have gone to in order to control or exploit the world's biggest sporting event. The book makes it clear that FIFA has never been simply an organization concerned with people kicking a ball around. It has always been tangled up with money, power, national prestige, and influence.

Unfortunately, this is also where my experience with the book became complicated.

I found many of these individual stories fascinating, but I frequently struggled to understand how they connected. Wilson has an enormous amount of information to work with, and sometimes it felt like I was being handed one fascinating historical footnote after another without enough connective tissue. I would become completely absorbed in one story and then suddenly find myself somewhere else, trying to remember how we got there.

I think this book would have worked considerably better for me if it had been organized more explicitly by decades or perhaps regions. A chronological structure broken into eras—prewar, postwar, the Cold War, the modern commercial era, and so on—might have helped me understand the larger evolution of the tournament. Alternatively, organizing portions around regions and their relationships with football might have given me a clearer sense of how all these political and cultural threads intersected.

And then there was 2026.

Reading this book while actually watching the World Cup arrive in my own backyard gave me a completely different perspective on Wilson's argument about football as cultural exchange. Seattle was one of the host cities, and I loved seeing the city transformed by visitors from around the world. Belgium and Egypt opened Seattle's tournament with a 1–1 draw, while Australia also played here, and suddenly the World Cup felt less like some enormous abstract sporting event and more like an international neighborhood party.

Boston offered another version of that same phenomenon, particularly with Scotland's Tartan Army taking over the city. Scotland played Haiti and Morocco in Boston, and the fans became almost as much a part of the spectacle as the games themselves. FIFA even described the Scottish supporters' presence as a demonstration of the unifying power of the tournament.

And, naturally, I was there for France. Les Bleus were fabulous, and watching Kylian Mbappé and the French team was about as close as I get to becoming a serious football fan. France eventually reached the quarterfinal in Boston, defeating Morocco 2–0, with Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé scoring.

As for the actual sport itself, I remain unconvinced. My favorite part is still watching grown men writhe dramatically on the ground as though they have suffered imaginary grievous injuries, only to miraculously recover moments later.

Ultimately, I appreciated The Power and the Glory more as a history book than as a football book. There are fascinating stories here, particularly when Wilson connects the World Cup to war, nationalism, politics, and cultural identity. But I often felt lost amid the sheer volume of information. For someone already deeply invested in football, I suspect the book's sprawling approach may be a feature rather than a flaw. For me, however, it sometimes felt like trying to assemble a puzzle while someone kept handing me additional pieces from entirely different boxes.

Still, perhaps that is part of what I took away from it. I may never become a football person, but I understand considerably better now why the World Cup matters to so many people. And after seeing Seattle and Boston become temporary crossroads for fans from across the globe, I can absolutely understand the magic of that cultural collision—even if I am still mostly here for France, the atmosphere, and the theatrical injuries.

[Adam Page]

Thorough and cutting. I got through this incredibly quickly as it is a narrative powered by well-placed gossip and intriguing mini-biographies. e.g. The Austrian team apologising for not turning up to 1938 because of Anschluss-and-all-that is a helluva way to start a chapter.

That said Wilson is willing to brave some analysis and postulate some theories for some of the darker mysteries; why the World Cup may have been nicked-and-dumped in 1966, the origin of FIFA's modern sin in Joã0 Havelange and how the tournament is becoming further mired in corruption and death but also how that is nothing new.

I plan to pass this book round liberally as I am keen to discuss the gossip; from Henry Kissinger believing he'd been humiliated by other's underhand diplomacy to how España 1982 was probably the World Cup at it's peak for pure drama with Rossi's redemption and West Germany being pantomime villians.

Warning. When listening to the audiobook there can be sudden jumps from one narrative to the next in one tournament, which can occasionally leave you a little lost for a few seconds.

[Grant Rhines]

As usual with Wilson’s books, any notion that the “old days” of football were free of the political and social issues that seem so intertwined with the modern game were convincingly swept away. Nothing new is under the sun, yet there is a clear distinction between the days of stolen bracelets and pool parties vs selling tournaments to petro-states. Yet, as he reminds us, as the World Cup survived Mussolini, the Junta and Putin, it will survive its latest afflictions.

Besides the sweeping social analysis, the characteristic detours into and tidbits about the oddities of international football were extremely entertaining; reminding us at the end of the day mankind has always been wonderfully bizarre. Good stuff.

[Allen Cook]

Imperfect yet interesting

While this is indeed a history of the World Cup, because of the focus of a chapter per tournament and the attempt of the author pull in geopolitical strands too, the reader, me, was left with the impression a series of vignettes strung together, rather than a whole, complete narrative. What would have been better is a series of books, one for each tournament, to allow the stories of and around teams and games to breathe.
There was also the impression of the author trying to squeeze in too much information and at the same time assuming too much knowledge in the casual reader - I repeatedly had to break away to check information online.
Overall, given Jonathan Wilson's reputation, I'm disappointed this was not a better reading experience.

[Piers]

Wilson has such a readable style. He seems to truly understand the balance between the depth needed to be a truly informative history, the feeling and folklore around being a football fan, but also a dedication to the truth and factual accuracy. This covers some of the same ground as David Goldblatt's totemic The Ball Is Round, but with a much more fluid style that lends itself to better storytelling. A hefty tome but still felt like it flew by.

[John Schorg]

Here is as close to a definitive history of the World Cup as you can get. Sometimes the author's writing gets in the way of the stories he is trying to tell, particularly in the accounts of early Cups. You can get lost as he switches from one team to another in each chapter, and the game accounts often don't translate well. Then again, there is such a wealth of such unbelievable material here about greed and arrogance among players, coaches and bureaucrats that a dispassionate accounting works the best. By the end, the overwhelming bloat on display at the organizational level is difficult to reconcile with the quality seen on the pitch.

[Matt Wrafter]

Wilson is in his element here, telling 20th century political and cultural history through the lens of football. It is clear he’s more knowledgeable about / intetested in some teams more than others (much of the Argentina material here is rehashed from Angels with Dirty Faces, for example), but there are always going to be focuses and absences in a book like this. Really enjoyed it.

[Chris Rowe]

I know this will be a minority opinion but this felt like reading an expanded Wikipedia article. The writing is good but 1/2 the book is goal scorers and score lines. So many notable moments not even mentioned. I really enjoyed Inverting the Pyramid but did not enjoy this one. It’s probably 2.5 stars and not 2 but I can’t get to 3 on it. Check out Inverting the Pyramid instead.

[Tom]

A very apt book for the month that’s in it. And a very good one.

This is a detailed account of each successive finals tournament from 1930 to 2022.

The focus, naturally enough, is on the matches and the players, and these are recounted vividly and with real insight, evoking more than a few memories.

It’s fascinating to consider how specific countries can emerge or wane over time, and what influenced those trends. Why are giants of old like Austria, Hungary or Uruguay now mere also-rans? Why do the Netherlands invariably implode amidst egos and in-fighting?

In the case of more recent tournaments there is also some very good analysis of the political backdrop and prevailing winds of the day.

Unfortunately the book is beset by numerous jarring continuity errors. The fault of poor editing rather than poor research or writing I suspect.

The author examines in detail the aftermath of one particular Brazil manager’s contentious departure, without previously mentioning the circumstances; or even the fact of his leaving.

In one paragraph Paulo Rossi is a Vicenza player. In the next he’s celebrating a league title with (I assume) Juventus.

And there are many more such instances. It certainly doesn’t spoil the book, but it is a pity.

Nevertheless, this is a really good read, written with enthusiasm and expertise, and all in a very accessible style.

What better time to read it than the beginning of the 2026 adventure.

[Adam Lichtenstein]

“For Jules Rimet, the World Cup was about using soccer to foster understanding among nations. Even he didn’t think it was purely about sport; his idealism, in fact, saw from the beginning that the soccer was a means to an end, even if that end was rather more wholesome than the goals of the present incarnation of FIFA. … It survived Mussolini and the Argentinian junta, it survived British indifference and Joao Havenlange, it survived the scandals of Russia and Qatar, and it will also survive Mohammed bin Salman and Gianni Infantino. Countries have always used the World Cup to promote themselves, to fight proxy wars, to project an image of unity and strengths to negotiate their positions in the world, but some small spark of Rimet’s vision remains.”

[Lewis Casey]

This book was the perfect accompaniment to my World Cup viewing, the way it showed that perhaps the maverick tactical developments of today’s game are just reworks of earlier football managers, and that the corruption of FIFA, especially around world cups, has always run deep was really enlightening.

Would have been 5 stars if not for a couple of errors (stating that Sam Allardyce was manager of West Ham when they signed Mascherano and Tevez when it was actually Alan Pardew, and the quote that got Anelka sent home from the 2010 tournament which has been said as false by Domenech himself) as well as very little mention of Wales and there success jn reaching the 2022 tournament, despite lots of content about the other home nations at tournaments they had reached.

[Mario]

A deep dive into the history of the World Cup with each chapter focusing on each edition from its inception in 1930 and the political and social backdrop of each country hosting the event and how it used the World Cup for its benefit. I couldn't help but feel roughly 20-30 pages devoted for each World Cup was insufficient, especially for someone like Wilson whose research and attention to detail (and there was a lot of research for this with 45 pages of references in the endnotes in the hardback edition) is what makes his books so readable and wondering what he could have done with more. Maybe me being a bit greedy.

Some quite interesting and amusing anecdotes throughout, as well as some mythbusting of some well-known stories from the past that have carried through time to the modern day. All in all, a recommended read for those interested in international football and its history.

3.5*

[Donaldinho14]

Another excellent book from Wilson, who is probably the best football writer out there at the moment.

Whilst this is a history of each World Cup finals in turn, Wilson weaves the prevalent political and social narratives of the day into each tournament and his research and eye for detail is second to none. Amazing how many pre-war players and administrators turn out to Nazis or war criminals (or both), or how high profile referees end up getting arrested for smuggling heroin through US customs.

Wilson also destroys some of the myths and urban legends that have built up around the World Cup, shattering a few illusions, but these are more than made up for in the stranger-than-fiction tales he comes across.

My only quibble - not enough Scotland. But when we win it in the US this year, I expect a full chapter about the rise of Grant Hanley and Lyndon Dykes in the next edition.

[Sjur Selsvik]

God og ambisiøs VM-historie som selvsagt er helt perfekt å lese akkurat nå. Det leses som en slags idéhistorisk fotballhistorie og ikke minst om hvordan fotballens historie og historien for øvrig henger sammen.
Denne historien er også utrolig interessant og det balanseres godt mellom skildring av samtidige politiske dimensjoner, taktisk utvikling, kampreferat og morsomme anekdoter.

[Joshua]

A well researched and thorough insight into the history of the World Cup. Each chapter is a different world cup told chronologically building into (for me) the more recent world cups and familiarity. What is driven home is that the World Cup has always been a means of exercising soft power or sports washing. Even if teams at the beginning thought it was a silly waste of time. The depressing level of corruption, autocracy and corporate sterilization is very present in more recent years but those moments and images of the pure joy and crushing disappointment (in a sporting sense) still shine through. From the hand of God, to the Zidane headbutt to Messi finally winning, to Gazza's tears - we still love it all even if the noise increasingly encroaches on the purity of the game. Or was it ever that pure?

[Nathan Martin]

What a phenomenal read, balanced almost perfectly between a concise political and cultural history of the world during the world cup era while also covering the evolution of football within it. I wished for a little more of the tactical side and some team sheets that were excellent in 'The inverted Pyramid' but the book is already 500 plus pages, so can't really fault that.

[Marcus Roche]

really enjoyed getting stuck into this on my week off work. great read