The Football Library

📅 #OnThisDay in 2016, we sadly lost Johan Cruyff. 📙 The Dutchman’s autobiography “My Turn” is the story of a man who embodied what it meant to be an icon.

🆕 Another Monday, another @PitchPublishing release. 📘 Rob Carless’ “Sunshine After the Rain” tells the tale of Aston Villa from Championship to Champions League.

🇦🇷 @mrwriterman79 has a phenomanely intriguing book coming to us in less than two months. 📘 “Killing Maradona” is the story of a legendary player whose story is far greater than what happened on the pitch.

📆 Thrilled to learn about @lfchistorical’s upcoming “Scouse Supremacy.” 📕 It is “the compelling untold story of the season that put Merseyside football on the map” in 1905/06.

📆 #OnThisDay in 1961, Jesper Olsen was born in Faxe, Denmark. 🇩🇰 The winger who went on to play at Manchester United in the 1980s also played a role in Denmark’s Euro 1988 campaign. 📕 Read “Danish Dynamite” to explore how Denmark rose from amateurs to European champions.

📆 #OnThisDay in 1976, Alessandro Nesta was born in Rome. 📕 @ammandev’s “The Conquerors” explores a fascinating period in Milan’s history in which Nesta played a key role.

⚽️ What a start to today’s UCL! An Elanga brace in the opening half hour has given Eddie Howe’s men further belief in Barcelona! 📘 Abi Smith’s “Rise of the Magpies” tells the story of the club’s renaissance.

📅 #OnThisDay in 2020, UEFA officially announced the postponement of EURO 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 📘 Read @obrien_jonathan’s “Euro Summits” for a complete history of UEFA’s European Championship.

🆕 More @PitchPublishing has officially released today! 📕 Tom Scholes’ second book on PSG “The Parisian Revolution” is a game-by-game account of how the club won their first UEFA Champions League trophy in 2025.

📆 #OnThisDay in 1892, after a split from Everton, club founder John Houlding registers Liverpool Football Club to play at Anfield. 📕 “Red Dawn” by Jeff Goulding and Kieran Smith is the remarkable story of Liverpool’s earliest success, winning their first title a decade later.

🆕 We’re excited by the news of Conor Kenny’s upcoming October release. 📕 “Sbornaya” will provide a journey through the Soviet Union’s final decade, through the lens of football.

📆 #OnThisDay in 1920, Ireland played their 100th official international match, a 0-0 draw against Scotland in Glasgow. 📗 Chris Lee’s “Shades of Green” is a journey into Irish football.

📆 #OnThisDay in 1881, Andrew Watson became the first black international footballer (and captain) when he led Scotland to a 6-1 friendly win over England. 📕 In Llew Walker’s “A Straggling Life Andrew Watson” the story of the Scotland international is told in incredible detail.

📆 #OnThisDay in 1978, Didier Drogba was born in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. 🇨🇮 He became a Chelsea legend; winning 4 PL titles & scoring the equaliser and winning penalty in the 2012 UCL final. 📕 @ed_aarons’ “Made in Africa” tells the history of African players in English football.

🇹🇷 A huge step forward for Galatasaray as they have just defeated Liverpool in the first leg of the Champions League Round of 16. 📕 “Welcome to Hell” by John McManus is a search of the real Turkish football, dispelling the distorted image of the sport in this country.

🆕 @PitchPublishing release day! 🌎 “Mundiales” by Mark Biram and @tim_vickery promises a fascinating “South American History of the World Cup.”

📆 #OnThisDay in 1949, Teófilo Cubillas was born in Lima, Peru. 🇵🇪 The story of the 1970 World Cup would be incomplete without mentioning the best young player of the tournament. 📘 Andrew Downie’s “The Greatest Show on Earth” revisits the iconic 1970 World Cup in Mexico.

📆 #OnThisDay in 1972, Ajax defeated Arsenal 2-1 in a European Cup quarter-final first leg at the Olympisch Stadion en route to the middle trophy lifting of their European Cup threepeat. 📕 @All_Blue_Daze’s “Dutch Masters” focuses on Ajax in the 1970s, and their legacy beyond.

📆 #OnThisDay in 1902, Real Madrid CF was officially founded in Madrid by a group of enthusiasts including the Padrós brothers. 📘 “The Greatest” by @TheRealMiguelLP is the “first book that covers all of [Real Madrid’s] history to unfold its iconic identity.”

📆 #OnThisDay in 1938, a record crowd of 75,038 packed White Hart Lane for an FA Cup sixth-round tie between Tottenham Hotspur and Sunderland, a match the hosts would win 1-0. 📘 “Tottenham, from the Lane” by Kat Lucas is the story of Spurs in N17.