Football Reading Guide: All the latest news to follow the passion through books

The ball never stops rolling on the planet of football : it could be the local tournament, the Premier League, La Liga in Spain, Serie A, the Champions League or the Nations League, and even more so now with the fan frenzy surrounding the Club World Cup being held in the United States and which had Boca Juniors and River Plate as the only Argentine representatives, already eliminated from the competition.

Now, what's new in baseball literature? Viva brings you the best books published this year: new releases, new releases, and reissues of titles or by established authors. They may be about Boca Juniors, River Plate, Independiente, Racing Club, San Lorenzo, Estudiantes, Rosario Central, Sacachispas, and, of course, the Argentine National Team, among other topics. Anything goes to feed off of football daily through reading.

This year, Penguin Random House released Menotti. The First. The Story of the Coach Who Refounded the National Team . Another great book by journalist Ezequiel Fernández Moores about the career of the first coach to win a World Cup with the Argentine National Team in 1978. It also highlights his time as coach of Huracán in 1973 (Metropolitan Tournament Champion), Barcelona, ​​Boca Juniors, and River Plate, the football rift with Bilardo, and his influence on the Scaloneta, among other topics. Available in all bookstores for $29,999.

On the other hand, Planeta published "Distintos a todos" (by Matías Bauso ): Racing Club's 2024 Copa Sudamericana championship campaign, and how Costas's team developed until they achieved the coveted international title after 36 years. It comes with a poster of the South American champion Academy, for $33,900.

He also just released La Doce. The True Story of Boca's Barra Brava ($29,000), by journalist Gustavo Grabia , a specialist in Argentine soccer's hooliganism. A story of violence, betrayal, and revenge, with facts, documentation, and statistics on the actions of the individuals who have made up (and have made up) the popular Boca Juniors hooliganism throughout its history.

Revolución Scaloni ($28,900) is another of Planeta's football books about the current coach of the Argentine National Team, world champion in Qatar 2022 and two-time champion of the Americas, published by journalist Alejandro Wall with a prologue by Gastón Edul.

When it comes to passion, nothing beats the blue and white passion in Pasión Argentina ($39,900) published by Luciano Wenike , also from Planeta. The author describes the Argentine National Team as "a national symbol" and tells its story, from that 1901 match in Montevideo to the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, with Messi and Maradona as its flag and all the affection Argentine fans feel for the three-time world champion team.

Also in May, he relaunched Atlas de camisetas ($59,000), a history of the jersey colors of every Argentine soccer club, complete with stories and other rarities. This is an "extended edition," as indicated on its cover, published by Cune Molinero and Alejandro Turner , and a huge success in 2022.

For its part, El Ateneo published "Sueños de Selección. Cómo inspiran los mejores mejores champos del mundo" (Dreams of Selection. How the World Champions Inspire ) ($26,900) by Adrián Michelena and Nahuel Lanzilotta (a journalist at Clarín Deportes), who chronicles the struggle, humility, and strength of each of the protagonists of La Scaloneta (The Scaloneta) to win the third Argentine star. The book features a prologue by Nicolás Tagliafico, champion in Qatar 2022.

Semilleros ($20,000) is another of this year's major new releases: several authors recount the relationship between the 26 world champions in Qatar and their ties to the neighborhood clubs where they played, including the stories of Scaloni and Aimar. Published by Meta. Edited by Fabián D'Aloisio and Juan Stanisci . It comes with a prologue by Ariel Scher.

Highlights include Gol Gana. Historias de campito ($15,000): a beautiful book about soccer stories and tales, interspersed with various tales based on love and social differences, written by photographer and journalist Damián Andreoli , from Arroyo Seco (Santa Fe). A gem of soccer literature for its stories and prose.

May the champions be eternal. The path to victory in Qatar 2022 is another great work by sports photojournalist Alejandro Pagni , with texts by journalist Eduardo Biscayart (ESPN and Telemundo).

The book is 240 pages long and features more than 200 high-quality photographs of the World Cup in Qatar. Through unique, unrepeatable, and unforgettable images, it covers each of the seven matches played by the Argentine national team until they won their "third star," with Messi lifting the Cup. The seven chapters include texts, analyses, and descriptions that make this work a cult object, a collector's item, a "treasure" of photography and the writing of its authors: sports journalists Diego Borinsky, Andrés Eliceche, Ezequiel Fernández Moores, Juan I. Irigoyen, Vicente Muglia, Juan José Panno, Diego Torres Romano, and Ariel Scher.

There are several publishing houses specializing in books about soccer and other sports. This year, the publishing house Fútbol Contado released Arlt – Quiroga ($8,000), a book containing the only true soccer stories written by two great writers of Latin American literature: the great Roberto Arlt and Horacio Quiroga. The first is the story "Yesterday I Saw the Argentines Win," written by Arlt when he first took to the field in 1929. Meanwhile, Quiroga narrated his short story "Juan Poltí, Half-Back," based on the tragic story of a former player for Nacional de Montevideo.

Tell Me About Bocha ($19,000) is the recent “gem” of Fútbol Contado: it is a collection of 13 fictional stories written by various authors (Edgardo Scott, Félix Bruzzone and Sonia Budassi, among others) in homage to Ricardo Bochini, Independiente’s greatest idol.

Fútbol Contado has other “pearls” launched in 2024 such as Sacachispas ($16,000), considered the first Peronist club founded on October 17, 1948 and its link with the Evita Games, among other stories, written by Matías Turiaci ; Apóstoles de Román ($17,500): there are eleven stories and a chronicle written by several authors (one of them is Martín Kohan) about the greatest idol and current president of Boca Juniors, and Maradona in La Pampa ($22,000): how Diego prepared to play his last World Cup (USA 94) by training for a week in the Pampa province, with stories by Diego Dal Santo .

Libro Fútbol has also published several other books of note: Futbol por Expertos ($32,880) is the result of a soccer conference the publisher held last year. It contains stories, tales, experiences, tactical insights, and various work methodologies for applying to soccer teams of any kind, told by coaches and experts in the field such as Juan Cruz Anselmi, Pablo Guede, Nicolás Larcamón, Christian Meloni, and Lucas Rivas.

In addition, he launched Gallardo Liderazgo ($31,920), by Gonzalo Bressan Otegui, about what the Muñeco has in his head to succeed as a coach at River; La pasión azulgrana ($29,920), by Pablo Lafourcade , which narrates the most passionate moments of San Lorenzo fans such as the conquest of the 2014 Copa Libertadores, historic matches, the football chaos of recent times and the long-awaited promise of returning to Boedo; Guía Teórico Práctica para el Método Argentino ($34,880), by Jorge “Coqui” Raffo (former coach of the FC Barcelona youth teams), and two books about Estudiantes de La Plata: El Siete a Cero (7-0) , that memorable classic that humiliated Gimnasia -their biggest rival- in 2006, written by Nicolás Sotomayor ; and Revolución Zubeldia. The first advance ($34,880): the story of the Pincharrata coach who changed the way football is played in Argentina, a work by renowned sports journalist Osvaldo Fanjul, originally from La Plata.

Meanwhile, Ediciones Al Arco, the first sports literature publisher to celebrate its 20th anniversary, has published Gloriosas ($19,000): 20 “mini-bios” of 20 Argentine athletes who made history, by sports journalist Andrés Pando . It is also designing a book on soccer by Daniel Lagares (Editor of Clarín Deportes). Other titles available for publication in 2024 include Había una vez Maradona (by Rodolfo Braceli , $14,000) and La pelota me busca (by Ariel Prat , $10,000) at www.edicionesalarco.com

Meanwhile, the Homo Sapiens bookstore in Rosario has its own publishing house, including several books on soccer. Among its sports titles are: Escritos Canayas ($16,500), with 40 stories about Rosario Central with tales by different authors (among them Héctor Cardozo, Juan José Llach, Osvaldo Bayer, Reynaldo Sietecase and Gerardo Rozín), and El Origen de la Grandeza. Los primer treinta años de Rosario Central (1889-1919) by Germán Alarcón , for $19,500. These books are available physically at Homo Sapiens, on the bookstore's website and in stores throughout the country, along with other books featured in the sports catalog.

For "football scholars," Prometeo Editorial has relaunched Fútbol y Patria (Football and Homeland) ($25,400), by sociologist Pablo Alabarces , now in its fifth edition. Twenty years after its first publication, Alabarces revises and expands his analysis to consider football within the framework of Argentine cultural history. He also updates his reflections to include the relationship between football and nationalist narratives during the Kirchner era, the significance of Lionel Messi's emergence, and the popular impact of Diego Maradona's death.