The Age of Football: Soccer and the Twenty-First Century

Sportswriter Goldblatt (The Ball Is Round) presents a titanic, often dense volume on “the beautiful game” and its cultural transcendency and relevance in the 21st century. The sport’s global popularity, Goldblatt argues, has resulted in soccer’s increased attention from politicians, not for “merely symbolic” reasons but also as “an object of state policy and intervention.” Goldblatt begins in Africa, where he explores the roots of colonialism and the ways that soccer proliferated across the continent, focusing on the cultural significance of South Africa hosting the 2010 World Cup. He then observes soccer’s rise to prominence in the Middle East and highlights the controversy surrounding the bribery scandal and backroom negotiations behind the decision for Qatar to host the 2022 World Cup, while also noting the subsequent charges of human rights violations regarding the migrant labor force building the stadiums. He closes with chapters on FIFA, soccer’s international governing body, and corruption, particularly about former FIFA president Sepp Blatter’s outsize power and his 2015 resignation amid a sprawling corruption scandal, and on the growing importance of soccer in Putin’s Russia, exemplified by the leader’s growing desire to spread the country’s “sphere of influence” in global sports outside of the Olympic sports. Goldblatt’s work is invaluable for a wide swath of readers, from soccer fans to those with interests in politics, cultural studies, and social justice. (Feb.)