Best soccer biographies and autobiographies to read this holiday season

There is no better way to get to know your favorite soccer personalities than reading their stories. Here are some favorite soccer biographies and autobiographies to enjoy this season or make a gift out of.

Social media is pervasive in soccer. It’s a way for players to connect with fans and take control of their own narrative. The accessibility gap between a fan and a player has never been lesser. But one of the side effects of this is that autobiographies and biographies seem antiquated. Why read a book when you can just tune into an Instagram Live?

For those of you who are looking to reduce your screen time but not your passion for the sport, here are five of my favorite soccer biographies and autobiographies.

5. Steven Gerrard — My Story

The first time I read this book was in middle school, but even to my precocious self, Gerrard’s passion and love for the game was tangible through the pages. It was my first brush with inspiration. And, I wasn’t just me.

This book was passed around my entire friends circle and devoured to such an extent that by the time it was returned to me, all the picture pages had been ripped out. I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve re-read this book but the chapter titled Istanbul gives me goosebumps every single time.

4. Nicklas Bendtner — Both Sides

History is written by winners, thank god autobiographies aren’t. In Both Sides, Bendtner gets brutally honest about his colorful career. Some of the anecdotes in this book defy belief — the time he gambled away £400,000 in one night, how he smoked cigarettes and drank espresso in the Juventus bathrooms with the likes of Pirlo and Buffon or the time he called Arsene Wenger an “a**hole and wanker” after he blocked his move to Crystal Palace.

Both Sides presents an eye-opening perspective on the lives of professional soccer players once they step off the pitch. It’s a book that will change your perception of Nicklas Bendtner. It isn’t the story of a maverick player as much as it is the story of a misunderstood young man who never had someone to guide him through his career.

3. Martí Perarnau — Pep Confidential

Pep Guardiola is one of the most storied managers in the game. Sandwiched between his record-breaking spells at Barcelona and Manchester City, his time as Bayern Munich never quite gets the recognition it deserves. Pep Confidential is a phenomenal little book that’s devoted solely to Guardiola’s first year at Bayern Munich and how he tried to improve a team that had won the treble in its previous year.

The writer Martí Perarnau was given unrestricted access into the inner workings of Bayern Munich — from transfer strategies to club tactics to the inner working of the dressing room — under the condition that he won’t publish anything until the season concludes. The result is a book so detailed and a portrait so vivid that you’ll never have to read another Guardiola book again.

2. Andrés Iniesta — The Artist: Being Iniesta

Andres Iniesta wasn’t an ordinary player so it’s only fitting that his autobiography isn’t either. For starters, it’s written in the third person. In the authors’ note, the ghostwriters Marco Lopez and Ramón Besa wanted to play the same role in the book as he did on the pitch — play passes and give assists. He wanted his story to be told through his family, friends, his coaches and his teammates.

The aesthetics and genius in his game are well documented, but the mental toughness isn’t. In this book, Iniesta lifts the covers on the pain, challenges and heartbreak he encountered on his journey to the top. Come for the insight into one of football’s greatest brains, stay for the chapter on the 2010 World Cup.

1. Philippe Auclair — Theirry Henry: Lonely at the Top 

Sports biographies aren’t meant to be poetic. Someone clearly forgot to tell Philippe Auclair this before he wrote Theirry Henry’s story. The flair in the writing complements the richness of the subject matter. From his breakthrough in the 1998 World Cup to the surrealism of the Arsenal years to the twilight in Barcelona, Henry’s journey in football has been colossal.

But in documenting the glory, Auclair doesn’t overlook the darkness. In fact, some of the most riveting chapters in the book focus on his frosty relationship with Zidane and the French public and the infamous handball incident against Ireland.

Auclair weaves a devastating tale and in the process manages to penetrate the psyche of one of football’s most elusive figures.