About the Book: World Cup Fever: A Footballing Journey in Nine Tournaments
The football World Cup is the biggest sporting competition on Earth-a chance
every four years for the greatest players to win international glory, and a
month-long media spectacle thats watched by an audience of billions. But the
tournament has changed beyond recognition since the inaugural event in
Montevideo, Uruguay, in July 1930. What was once a semi-professional meeting
beset by haphazard play has evolved to become a game of multinational buyouts,
dubious ethics and questionable aims-and the new era of football has much to
tell us about the globalised world. Simon Kuper is among