World of Sports is your guide to one of the world's great obsessions, covering the teams, the games, the venues, the histories and the personalities that all come together to form something amazing.

Matches that freeze economies. Races that stop nations. Rivalries that stretch back through centuries. This is the world of sport, electrifying and fascinating, thrilling and endlessly revealing. You can't hope to understand a nation without understanding its pastimes and its passions, and that, so often, is sport.

Organised into sections by world region, World of Sports features a line-up of sports, events and sporting venues that are both familiar and obscure, from world-famous match-ups to little-known quirks. There's also a focus on the world's best stadiums, and a calendar of sporting events so you can easily plan your next vacation to tie in with these. This is the ideal book for sports lovers who want to understand the full gamut of sports around the world, watch them all on TV and perhaps even travel to join the locals in their genuine objects of passion.

Illustrations by UK artist Paul Reid.