Soccer: The Ultimate Guide to the Beautiful Game

by Clive Gifford

Soccer is the definitive guide to the world's most popular sport. From the sublime skills of Pele to the lifestyle of a professional soccer player, this gloriously illustrated book explores every aspect of the game. State-of-the-art digital illustrations and stunning photographs bring to life all the key rules, tactics, set plays, and skills. As well as offering practical advice, this informative book also provides an insider's view of the history of the game, profiles of the great clubs, and facts about women's soccer teams and players. The great players, from Pele and Eusebio to Zidane, Maradona, and Mia Hamm, make an appearance, and a section on the great games relives the excitement of the most memorable encounters. A reference section includes a glossary, key statistics, and a guide to the best soccer websites. Comprehensive and visually thrilling, Soccer captures all the drama and the passion of a game that unites billions of people across the globe. Special The definitive guide to all areas of the game, including rules, skills, tactics, great games, and famous players. Unique, state-of-the-art digital diagrams and illustrations. Stunning photographs throughout. A world soccer book for the 2002 World Cup and beyond. Cross-references, glossary, and web resources.

Genres: Sports

96 pages, Hardcover

Published April 15, 2002

About the author

Clive Gifford is a highly experienced journalist and author with over 170 books published and more than 800 features and stories written for adults and children.

Clive is an unusual author who likes to work in both fiction and non-fiction. Perhaps this reflects his unusual life which, so far, has seen him travel to over 70 countries, be held hostage in Colombia, go parachuting, coach several sports and run a computer games company.

He says: "What drives me more than anything else is the desire to communicate, entertain and inform through the written word."

Reviews

[Spencer Messinger · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is great. It showed how to do things in pictures and words. Awesome soccer book.
I rate it a 4 1/2. It's a really good book.

[Gabriel Serra]

Soccer also known as futbol is the most popular sport in the world. The biggest there is in soccer is the world cup. It happens every four years and in the previous world cup germany took the trophy home. Not only is soccer for men it is also very popular on the women's side also. This year the women's world cup is happening and is in canada our u.s. women are ranked 2 in the world. There is 11 players on the field (also known as “a pitch”) at all times unless a player gets a red card. A red card means that you have to leave the field and have a one game suspension. One very important rule is the offsides rule, the rule is based on whether you're in or front or behind the last defender not including the goalie. If you are in front of the last defender when the ball is passed in your direction you are considered offside and the other team gets the ball, but if you are behind the last defender when your teammate passes the ball keep playing because you might have a chance of scoring a goal. Every team has one goal and one player that blocks the goal with there hands. The object of the game is to score as many goals so you can win. The team with more goals after the 90 minutes plus extra time is the winner. Soccer has been around for more than 2,000 after the chinese, japanese, greek and roman cultures invented the game. I hope the beautiful game stays for a lot longer.