In the 21st century football is first. First among sports themselves, but it now commands the allegiance, interest and engagement of more people in more places than any other phenomenon. In the three most populous nations on the earth - China, India and the United States where just 20 years ago football existed on the periphery of society - it has now arrived for good. Nations, peoples and neighbourhoods across the globe imagine and invent themselves through playing and following the game.

David Goldblatt charts football’s global cultural ascent, its economic transformation and deep politicisation, taking in prison football in Uganda and amputee football in Angola, the role of football fans in the Arab Spring, China’s declared intention to both host and win the World Cup by 2050 and the FIFA corruption scandal.

Following the intersection of the game with money, power and identity, like no previous sports writer or historian, Goldblatt’s sweeping story is remarkable in its scope, breathtaking in its depth of knowledge and is a brilliantly original perspective of the 21st century.