Football Murals

SHORTLISTED FOR THE SUNDAY TIMES SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2023 - ILLUSTRATED BOOK OF THE YEAR
WATERSTONES BEST BOOKS OF 2022 - SPORT
'A beautiful showcase of such a distinctive part of the game's culture... impossible not to get lost in the book' - Miguel Delaney, The Independent
'Gorgeous to behold... Unmissable' - Danny Kelly, TalkSPORT radio presenter
On high-rise buildings, street corners and stadium walls around the world, eye-catching murals pay tribute to footballing greats. Offering a fresh, visual perspective on the game, Football Murals is the first book to celebrate these towering works of art.
This richly illustrated book showcases the most impressive examples, explores their inspirational qualities and examines what they say about these icons and their sport.
Written and curated by respected football writer Andy Brassell, this ground-breaking book features more than 100 murals from around the world, capturing the scale, grandeur and wit of this powerful and popular art form. Through a series of short essays and extended captions, Andy shares the players' stories, discusses the cultural politics and explains just why these men and women have been immortalised in mural form.
Covering such diverse topics as Home Town Glory, Football Fame and The Cult of the Coach, Football Murals addresses the issues important to fans worldwide. It spans Marcus Rashford's inspirational mural in a Manchester suburb, the George Best tribute on the East Belfast estate where he was born, the 15-foot depiction of Megan Rapinoe in St Paul, Minnesota, and the Naples 'shrine' to Diego Maradona.

Andy Brassell is a writer and broadcaster for The Guardian, The Football Ramble and Talksport, and a regular voice on television for Sky Sports and BT Sport. He has covered several FIFA World Cups and European Championships for newspapers, radio and TV outlets and still loves to discover new football cultures, having been to matches in 26 different countries.

Foreword
Introduction
Chapter 1: Hometown Glory
Chapter 2: Johan Cruyff
Chapter 3: Wayne Rooney
Chapter 4: The Good Fight
Chapter 5: Pelé
Chapter 6: Big Moment Players
Chapter 7: Cristiano Ronaldo
Chapter 8: Back to Life
Chapter 9: Zlatan Ibrahimovic
Chapter 10: Ada Hegerberg
Chapter 11: Football Fame
Chapter 12: Paul Gascoigne
Chapter 13: Francesco Totti
Chapter 14: Fifty Years of Hurt
Chapter 15: Lionel Messi
Chapter 16: This Is My House
Chapter 17: Ronaldinho
Chapter 18: Soul of the Game
Chapter 19: Megan Rapinoe
Chapter 20: The Cult of the Coach
Chapter 21: Diego Maradona
Chapter 22: Mohamed Salah
Chapter 23: When Love Breaks Down
Chapter 24: Franz Beckenbauer
Chapter 25: Murals Memorial
Chapter 26: Lucy Bronze
Chapter 27: Cult Heroes
Chapter 26: Zinedine Zidane