It’s the biggest sporting event on the planet — a once-every-four-years shot at glory, where the world’s top footballers chase their ultimate dream.
Today, the World Cup is a month-long global spectacle watched by billions. But the first tournament, held in Uruguay in 1930, was a modest affair: semi-professional, sparsely attended, and barely organised. So how did it evolve into a juggernaut of global sponsorship, political controversy, and high-stakes drama?
In World Cup Fever, acclaimed football writer Simon Kuper — one of the few journalists to have attended every tournament since 1990 — takes us on a journey through each World Cup he's witnessed. From the quiet stands of Italia ’90 to France’s triumph on home soil in ’98, South Africa’s historic hosting in 2010, and the complex legacy of Qatar 2022, Kuper explores how the World Cup reflects and reshapes our world.
This is the story of how football’s grandest stage became more than just a tournament — and how, in the process, it has left its mark on nations, cultures, and lives.
It’s the biggest sporting event on the planet — a once-every-four-years shot at glory, where the world’s top footballers chase their ultimate dream.
Today, the World Cup is a month-long global spectacle watched by billions. But the first tournament, held in Uruguay in 1930, was a modest affair: semi-professional, sparsely attended, and barely organised. So how did it evolve into a juggernaut of global sponsorship, political controversy, and high-stakes drama?
In World Cup Fever, acclaimed football writer Simon Kuper — one of the few journalists to have attended every tournament since 1990 — takes us on a journey through each World Cup he's witnessed. From the quiet stands of Italia ’90 to France’s triumph on home soil in ’98, South Africa’s historic hosting in 2010, and the complex legacy of Qatar 2022, Kuper explores how the World Cup reflects and reshapes our world.
This is the story of how football’s grandest stage became more than just a tournament — and how, in the process, it has left its mark on nations, cultures, and lives.
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