The World Cup

Whether you call it football, fútbol, footy, or soccer, the FIFA World Cup unites fans together to watch one of the world's most popular sports. Check out titles selected by RCL subject editors on the globalization of soccer and World Cup history, along with how science, statistics, sociology, and cultural studies help us better understand the sport. Resources for College Libraries (RCL) features 90,000+ core titles for academic libraries, curated by Choice/ACRL subject specialists and available at rclweb.net.

Updated April 1, 2026
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The World Cup : the complete history
Crouch, Terry 1958-
Paper Book
In the pages of this encyclopaedic book is everything anyone could ever want to know about the World Cup, from the first finals in Uruguay in 1930 through to the qualifying matches for Germany 2006.
The ball is round : a global history of soccer
Goldblatt, David
Paper Book
The definitive book about soccer, from the author of The Games: A Global History of the Olympics. There may be no cultural practice more global than soccer. Rites of birth and marriage are infinitely diverse, but the rules of soccer are universal. No world religion can...

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