If you have any interest in Germany, German football, the Bundesliga, you must buy this book by the incomparable Uli Hesse, who writes terrific articles on ESPN as well. I've read Tor!, Morbo, Calcio, and Brilliant Orange and I'd rank them as follows:Ĥ: Brilliant Orange: The Neurotic Genius of Dutch Football As a side note, Germany won the 1954 World Cup before they had professional football or a nationwide league, a fact that I found amazing. By comparison, the Football League started up in the 1880s. Tor! takes you from the beginnings of football in Germany to how it was organised, how the clubs came into being, and why it was until the 1960s(!) that Germany had a national league, and it was the 1970s until there was full professionalism and no maximum wage. If only every book about football in other countries (Spain, Italy, Holland, France) was written more like this one then they'd be improved. This is a brilliant book about German football, the chapter about the naming of German teams is worth the money alone.

Tor history of german football