The well-known Australian sports historian Bill Murray shows in this readable history how soccer has become the world's most popular sport.

A landmark work on the sport of soccer. -- John Haydon, The Washington Times Witty and passionate, scholarly and literate... Unhesitatingly, I would classify The World's Game as the most satisfying book on football that has ever come to my attention. -- J. Neville Turner, Bulletin of the Australian Society for Sport History Well researched ... readable, factual and informative. -- John Weir, author of The Absolute Game Presents an excellent case for why soccer is the sport of the globe. -- Adam Korengold, The American Reporter Book Review One of the finest chronicles of soccer... Gives you reason to appreciate why the world's game has continued to flourish. -- Adelaide Advertiser, Australia Bill Murray has accomplished the seemingly impossible. He has masterfully rendered the complexities of soccer's history into a single vividly written story. -- Benjamin Rader, author of Baseball: A History of America's Game Spiced with colorful evidence and stories...The World's Game is a very interesting book packed with arresting detail. -- James Walvin, author of The People's Game: The History of Football Revisited

Bill Murray, senior lecturer in history at La Trobe University, Bundoora, Victoria, Australia, is a well-known sports historian who has published widely in sport and politics in the 1930s and on the Olympic Games. His books include The Old Firm: Sectarianism, Sport and Society in Scotland and Glasgow's Giants: 100 Years of the Old Firm.