{"product_id":"the-soccer-100-the-story-of-the-greatest-players-in-history","title":"The Soccer 100 – The Story of the Greatest Players in History","description":"\u003cp\u003eA celebration of the beautiful game and its 100 greatest players, from the pre-World War II exploits of Dixie Dean to the modern-day genius of Kylian Mbappé and Lionel Messi.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThese players left legacies, redefined the game with trademark skills, and grew into national icons. They have their stats – the goals, the wins, the trophies – but, more importantly, they have their stories.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eOne World Cup winner owned a nightclub that briefly transformed a corner of industrial Germany into one of the hippest places around. An Austrian forward's death is still shrouded in mystery. A striker who might have become a telephone technician had he not been spotted playing soccer was eventually elected president of his country.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAnd there are unanswered questions. How did Pelé's Brazil shirt from the 1958 World Cup quarter-final go missing in a Welsh school? Which goalkeeper was so good that one opponent considered scoring against him akin to \"winning a trophy\"?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThrough extensive research and interviews, \u003cem\u003eThe Athletic\u003c\/em\u003e soccer staff, led by Oliver Kay and James Horncastle, discovered angles and tales that shine a new light on the sport's most compelling characters.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThey faced an impossible riddle, too: Of the thousands of players to hit the pitch, who is the best? Their efforts to find the answer took the foremost sports newsroom on a journey, and what emerges is more than a ranking. Through all-new, vivid portraits of each athlete, \u003cem\u003eThe Soccer 100\u003c\/em\u003e is a tribute to the greatest players to have ever graced the most popular sport on the planet\u003cem\u003e.\u003c\/em\u003e Published in 2026.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eSize: 158mm x 234mm – 760 pages.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Soccer Books Limited","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57383313899902,"sku":"9780063412675","price":30.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0726\/0546\/6903\/files\/TheSoccer100.jpg?v=1778248920","url":"https:\/\/soccer-books.co.uk\/products\/the-soccer-100-the-story-of-the-greatest-players-in-history","provider":"Soccer Books Limited","version":"1.0","type":"link"}