Played in Germany

This was a really pleasant surprise. A well researched and racily written overview of Germany through the eyes of its football clubs and supporters who are freely quoted throughout.

This is a timely publication given that Germany will be hosting Euro24 and the thousands of visitors to the competition will be thoroughly educated and entertained if they browse through this excellent book beforehand.

Highly recommended.

'Played in Germany' is a well-researched, witty and interesting social history of football in Germany. It largely sidesteps cliche and covers an awful lot of ground without sacrificing depth. The book is full of insights from football fans (rather than players) and Holden has a way with a telling phrase, such as 'The Ruhr may always have been the engine of German industry. But it was Stuttgart, way down in the south-west, which produced its most famous motor'. He also picks up nicely on that much-misunderstood force, German humour, for instance in quoting an 1860 München fan on their clubs decline: 'that has less to do with idealism, and more to do with incompetence.’ There might have been more on Germany's long dominance of women's football, which only gets a brief mention, and for me this book could have been quite a bit longer, which is probably the greatest praise I can offer.