More travelogue than polemic, Soccer Against the Enemy, or Football Against the Enemy if you prefer, is Simon Kuper’s account of his journey around the world in search of universal truths and local particularities about the world’s most popular sport. It’s an audacious project for Kuper, one he undertook in his early 20s and on a shoestring budget, staying in youth hostels and traveling as cheaply as possible.
Everywhere he goes, Kuper finds all sorts of people willing to talk to him about soccer and politics. From passionate fans to powerful figures, they seem all have opinions on the best way to run a country and whether the national team should be playing a 4-4-2 or a 4-3-3.
The book is a product of its time. Written mainly in the early to mid-90s, Kuper travels through a world dealing with the fall of the Soviet Union and the breakup of the former Yugoslavia. In the newly united Germany he speaks to a man who wound up being labeled a dissident for being too big a soccer fan. In Russia he discovers a shockingly blasé attitude towards bribing referees to fix matches. In Holland he investigates how soccer sparked more intense hatred for Germany than even the war-time occupation.
Kuper tries to get to the bottom of national differences in soccer styles, though his approach is more anecdotal than sociological. He talks to the legendary Italian coach responsible for developing the defensive-minded catenaccio style that leads many people to label Italian soccer boring. He hears from Brazilian fans who have never forgiven the 1994 team for playing an unexciting, un-Brazilian style, even though it won them the World Cup.
Soccer Against the Enemy is a fascinating look at the world of soccer and the hold that it has over so many people. Filled with amusing anecdotes, colorful characters, and soccer lore, it is as good an advertisement for the sport as I’ve encountered.