The World Encyclopedia of Soccer - Hardcover

Lablanc, Michael L.; Henshaw, Richard

3.4

5 ratings by Goodreads

9780810389953: The World Encyclopedia of Soccer

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0810389959 ISBN 13: 9780810389953

Publisher: Gale / Cengage Learning, 1994

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Surveys the history of soccer, shares profiles of the sport's best players, and includes information on equipment, stadia, soccer terms, and championship records

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

From Booklist:

If this summer's World Cup matches capture your patrons' attention, this book will provide background on the game. It emphasizes historical and geographic facts rather than statistical information. LaBlanc (editor of Contemporary Black Biography and Contemporary Musicians) bases this new edition on Henshaw's Encyclopedia of World Soccer (1979). Nearly half the book profiles soccer-playing nations and includes the name and address of the national governing body, the national stadium, the largest stadium, the team colors, and a summary of the game in that country. The rearrangement by topic (from the alphabetical arrangement of the first edition), the addition of an index and appendixes that include a time line, glossary, summary of major cup competition results, and other supplementary information are pluses.

New to this edition is a chapter on the history of soccer and a spectator's guide to the World Cup--actually a capsule history of the competition. What may be the most useful chapter is "Who's Who in Soccer." With many black-and-white photographs and 30 new names, these biographies of 95 of the world's elite players are a welcome and much needed source. A chapter on FIFA, the international governing body of soccer, includes its history and organization, and one on U.S. soccer organizations includes professional teams only. Women's soccer rates a chapter longer than the one on Olympic soccer.

Hasty editing has resulted in less than adequate updating of some areas. Only one new entry has been added to the section "Disasters and Tragedies" since the first edition, where disasters were recorded with a frightening regularity. In fact, the new history chapter contains tragedies not included in the chapter so named. The chapter on rules will not meet players' needs for ready reference. The arrangement is best suited for understanding the rules' historical development. The page on the National Soccer Hall of Fame gives interesting information but neglects to tell the location. Nonetheless, there is information that we are grateful is in print once again (the chapter "Tactics," for example).

More frequent revision and updating could make this the authoritative source. For the present, consider it a must-buy where interest warrants, as it contains much information not found elsewhere.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.