Scarecrow Press Historical Dictionary of Soccer (Historical Dictionaries of Sports)

Soccer is the world's most popular sport and one of the globe's best known cultural practices. The pinnacle of the sport worldwide is the FIFA World Cup, a competition held every four years, which crowns one nation as the world champion in front of huge global television audiences: over half of the planet's population watched the 2010 FIFA World Cup final between Spain and the Netherlands. From the humble origins of modern soccer in Great Britain in the 19th century, world soccer has become today a vast, commercialized global industry, with huge salaries paid to the biggest stars due to the massive amounts of revenue generated through the sale of television rights, ticket sales, and sponsorship income. The Historical Dictionary of Soccer presents a comprehensive history of the game through a chronology, an introductory essay, a bibliography, numerous appendixes that list everything from the FIFA World Player of the Year to FIFA World Cup Winners and Runners-Up to the UEFA Champions League Winners and Runners-Up, and over 400 cross-referenced dictionary entries on places, teams, terminology, and people, including Garrincha, Pelé, Johan Cruyff, Diego Maradona, Zinedine Zidane, and Lionel Messi. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about soccer. Review Overall, this volume will act as a useful general reference source. It is a worthy effort that belongs in any library where the history of sport or soccer is either studied or the subject of serious interest.--Reference Reviews Dunmore (English-born, Chicago-based, award-winning soccer writer) packs a wealth of information into this dictionary on "the beautiful game"--now better known as "the global game" for its popularity and profitable commercialism. The brief preface prepares the ground for the meaty 250-page dictionary section (comprising more than 400 cross-referenced entries). Included are a list of acronyms and abbreviations, FIFA member associations by country, and a useful chronology (extending from 206 BCE to 2010). Dunmore's 18-page introduction is a solid, up-to-date history of soccer as it evolved in Europe and South America, and especially in Scotland and England--from upper-class beginnings down to the working masses. The author covers the organization of the Laws of the Game, the formation of regional associations, the growing importance of fans, soccer's commercialization and globalization (especially through television), and the growth of women's soccer in the late 20th century, especially in North America. The dictionary section features long and short entries, describing places, e.g., world-famous stadia in Rio, Mexico City, London, and elsewhere, along with others tragically remembered for disaster and death (e.g., Hillsborough and Ibrox). Stars like Pele, Maradona, and Beckenbauer, and modern icons like Beckham, Messi, and Mia Hamm, all find their places here. Soccer terminology, e.g., offside, corner kick, foul throw, and penalty shootout, is explained for the uninitiated. Teams like Manchester United and Liverpool, Barcelona and Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, and many more are all highlighted in their national and international settings through cross-references. Rounding out the dictionary are 20 appendixes, e.g., on FIFA presidents and players of the year; and a bibliography, with information including periodicals and websites of interest. No photographs, illustrations, or concluding general index. Dunmore is to be commended for packing so much into just 300-plus pages. Summing Up: Recommended. Lower-level undergraduates and above; general readers.--CHOICE Dunmore, a writer, blogger, and columnist for Chicago Sports Weekly, offers a comprehensive overview of the world's most popular sport. The introductory essay is followed by more than 400 cross-referenced entries that cover countries, teams, terminology, rules, championships, and people associated with the game, includi