Before the billions, there were the terraces.

Football began in the muddy fields of Victorian England, taken up by working-class communities who made it the heartbeat of their towns and cities. A Saturday afternoon ritual. A father and son walking to the ground. A penny on the terrace and ninety minutes of something that belonged to everyone.

This book tells the full story of how that game became the most watched, most monetised and most fought-over sport in human history. From the formation of the Football Association in 1863 to the failed European Super League of 2021. From Jack Walker's love letter to Blackburn Rovers to Roman Abramovich's arrival at Chelsea and the sovereign wealth funds that followed. From Jules Rimet's humanitarian dream to FIFA's corruption scandals, the Qatar World Cup, and Gianni Infantino handing a peace prize to a sitting president.

It is also the story of what was lost along the way - the supporter priced out of the ground their grandfather built, the community club relocated against its supporters' wishes, the local identity stretched to the point of invisibility by owners whose primary interest was never the football.

Written in the narrative journalism tradition of the series, The History of Football is rigorous, unflinching, and deeply personal - told in part by a South London boy whose uncle took him to Anfield in 1989, where Liverpool beat Crystal Palace 9-0, and where he understood for the first time what football meant to the people who loved it.

Part of The History of... series.