A monumental exploration of soccer and society in our time, "unlike anything else written on this subject" (Barney Ronay, Guardian ). Based on a decade of research and reporting, The Age of Football sheds light on the role that soccer has played in the greatest issues of our time. From the sport's connections to social discord in the Middle East to the reasons behind its surprising surge in popularity in China, India, and the United States, the increasing interest in women's teams to the controversy embedded in the domestic football associations emerging across nations in Africa, Goldblatt reveals that this massively popular sport is vital to understanding our social, political, and economic lives.