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
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...
The country of football : soccer and the making of modern Brazil
Kittleson, Roger Alan.
Paper Book
Soccer is the world’s most popular sport, and the Brazilian national team is beloved around the planet for its beautiful playing style, the jogo bonito. With the most successful national soccer team in the history of the World Cup, Brazil is the only country to have played in every...

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