The Power and the Glory
On sale
7th May 2026
Price: £12.99
‘A master at telling football’s greatest ever stories… Breathtaking. Wilson’s eye for detail and his elegant writing brings the World Cup to life like no other book on the topic I have ever read’ ELIS JAMES
‘Epic in scope, awesomely rich in detail, and compulsively entertaining’ TOM HOLLAND
‘So much of what we know of football’s history we know thanks to Wilson’ SIMON KUPER
The football World Cup is the most watched sporting event on the planet. It has become a global obsession: 211 nations initially entered the 2022 edition. It has been running for almost a century. Yet there has never been a comprehensive history of the World Cup that has considered not only the matches and goals, the players and coaches, the tales of scandal and genius, the haggling and skulduggery of the bidding process, but has also placed the tournaments within a socio-political framework. The story of the World Cup is also the story of the world; this book tells its definitive history.
‘Epic in scope, awesomely rich in detail, and compulsively entertaining’ TOM HOLLAND
‘So much of what we know of football’s history we know thanks to Wilson’ SIMON KUPER
The football World Cup is the most watched sporting event on the planet. It has become a global obsession: 211 nations initially entered the 2022 edition. It has been running for almost a century. Yet there has never been a comprehensive history of the World Cup that has considered not only the matches and goals, the players and coaches, the tales of scandal and genius, the haggling and skulduggery of the bidding process, but has also placed the tournaments within a socio-political framework. The story of the World Cup is also the story of the world; this book tells its definitive history.
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Reviews
Meticulously researched and well-organised - an informative account of how the World Cup became the global event it is today
For the biggest show in sport, that has almost everything, this was the book the World Cup long needed. The definitive history, told through the elevation of the tournament's compelling storylines, as well as brilliant new details
A history of the World Cup that is also a four yearly temperature check on the history of the entire world. Epic in scope, awesomely rich in detail, and compulsively entertaining
An outstanding book by a truly outstanding writer. Jonathan Wilson understands not only the long history of the game, and the characters who gloriously shaped it, but also the essentials of the game itself. Once you've finished reading The Power and the Glory, you'll want the next World Cup finals to kick off tomorrow
Unfailingly lucid and objective, as well as packed with fascinating characters and anecdotes, Jonathan Wilson's The Power and the Glory is the authoritative history we have long needed about football's ultimate tournament
Essential... rich in political and cultural content
Magisterial... the definitive account of the world's greatest sporting festival
Jonathan Wilson is a master at telling football's greatest ever stories... Breathtaking. Wilson's eye for detail and his elegant writing brings the World Cup to life like no other book on the topic I have ever read
So much of what we know of football's history we know thanks to Wilson, and he tells it so engagingly, with an eye for personality and story as well as the deeper structures. He sees the connections between football and everything else, and is dazzlingly international. The game is lucky to have him