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Magnum Football: Magnum Soccer
This title contains a selection of Magnum photographers' images of the people and culture of football around the world, from the 1930s to the present day.
184 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
About the author
Simon Kuper
46 books418 followersSimon Kuper is a journalist for the Financial Times in England. He was born in Uganda of South African parents and moved to the Netherlands as a child. He studied History and German at Oxford University, and attended Harvard University as a Kennedy Scholar. He has written for The Times, Observer, Guardian and Le Monde, and also writes regularly for the Spectator and Dutch newspapers.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
June 17, 2026
GOOOAAAL!!!
A review of the Phaidon Press hardcover U.S. edition (with 'Soccer' on the cover) released simultaneously with the UK edition (with 'Football' on the cover) on May 24, 2002.
It is the early days of the 2026 World Cup as I write this. I wanted to read and look at something uplifting and positive away from the news of ticket price gouging, questionable referee calls, and whatever offensive things the current U.S. administration might do during the next month. This photo-journalism book was just the ticket.
Magnum Photos is an independent agency founded in 1947 based on an idea by the photographer Robert Capa, famous for his Spanish Civil War and WWII D-Day photos. The idea was to give member partners greater creative control and freedom in their work independent from larger media organizations. Many of the Magnum photographers have developed high profile artistic reputations and have extensive book publications of their work.
While Magnum photographers are regularly covering major news stories around the world, they will occasionally take photos of regular people they observe in passing. Such is the case with the photos in this book which were selected out of 4,000 football-related pictures found in the Magnum archives when the idea for a book related to football (i.e. known as soccer in the US) came about.
The photos span roughly 70 years, dozens of countries in six continents, going as far back as 1933 to Henri Cartier-Bresson in Madrid, Spain to the years just prior to the book's 2002 publication. Many of them are of children and younger people playing casual games on the street or on building tops. Few involve professional stadiums or players, although some celebrities are seen.
It all helped to affirm the exhilaration of people in play and to confirm our joy in life and humanity.
Trivia and Link
There are roughly 140 photographs in this book. I linked to a few of them in status updates below. You can see 26 of them as samples at the Magnum Photos website page In Pictures: Football Around the World.
A review of the Phaidon Press hardcover U.S. edition (with 'Soccer' on the cover) released simultaneously with the UK edition (with 'Football' on the cover) on May 24, 2002.
'Some people believe football is a matter of life and death.
I'm very disappointed with that attitude.
I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.'
- Bill Shankly (former manager of Liverpool FC).
It is the early days of the 2026 World Cup as I write this. I wanted to read and look at something uplifting and positive away from the news of ticket price gouging, questionable referee calls, and whatever offensive things the current U.S. administration might do during the next month. This photo-journalism book was just the ticket.
Magnum Photos is an independent agency founded in 1947 based on an idea by the photographer Robert Capa, famous for his Spanish Civil War and WWII D-Day photos. The idea was to give member partners greater creative control and freedom in their work independent from larger media organizations. Many of the Magnum photographers have developed high profile artistic reputations and have extensive book publications of their work.
While Magnum photographers are regularly covering major news stories around the world, they will occasionally take photos of regular people they observe in passing. Such is the case with the photos in this book which were selected out of 4,000 football-related pictures found in the Magnum archives when the idea for a book related to football (i.e. known as soccer in the US) came about.
The photos span roughly 70 years, dozens of countries in six continents, going as far back as 1933 to Henri Cartier-Bresson in Madrid, Spain to the years just prior to the book's 2002 publication. Many of them are of children and younger people playing casual games on the street or on building tops. Few involve professional stadiums or players, although some celebrities are seen.
It all helped to affirm the exhilaration of people in play and to confirm our joy in life and humanity.
Trivia and Link
There are roughly 140 photographs in this book. I linked to a few of them in status updates below. You can see 26 of them as samples at the Magnum Photos website page In Pictures: Football Around the World.
June 16, 2015
Further evidence, as if any were needed, that football really is the "beautiful" game.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews