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<b></b><b> THE INTERNATIONAL BESTSELLER </b><b></b><b><br/><br/><b>SHORTLISTED FOR FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEAR & BEST SPORTS WRITING AWARD AT THE 2025 SPORTS BOOK AWARDS</b><br/><b><br/>A TIMES SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR<br/>A TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR<br/>AN IRISH TIMES BOOK OF THE YEAR<br/>AN IRISH INDEPENDENT BOOK OF THE YEAR</b><br/><br/><b>Fully updated to cover Saudi Arabia's 2034 World Cup bid, the Manchester City charges case and the events of the 2024/25 season.</b><br/><br/><b>'Important, perfectly timed and hugely necessary.' </b><i>The Guardian</i><br/><b>'Football needs this book. A monumental piece of investigative journalism.'</b><i> Irish Times</i><br/><b>'A must-read on how modern football works.' </b><i>Ian Wright</i><br/><b>'Brave, forensic and utterly gripping.' </b><i>Tom Holland</i><br/><br/>______________________________<br/><br/><b>The definitive account of how capitalism and the world's elite corrupted modern football.<br/></b><br/>As the 2022 World Cup in Qatar drew to a close, there was a bitter undercurrent to Argentina's triumph. Throughout the tournament, numerous allegations of sportswashing and financial misconduct had been made against the state of Qatar, moving what had previously been a smaller conversation into the worldwide spotlight.<br/><br/>The question had been asked, who <i>really </i>owns and runs football?<br/><br/>Journeying from Abu Dhabi to Newcastle, and onto London, Paris, Moscow and New York, journalist Miguel Delaney investigates the allegations of sportswashing and misconduct in the beautiful game. The result is a gripping account of how football has been taken over by the world's wealthiest businessmen, state-backed corporations, media tycoons and oil-rich oligarchs.<br/><br/>From Neymar's GBP198 million transfer to Paris Saint-Germain and Abu Dhabi's construction empire in Manchester to failed Financial Fair Play constraints and the dawn of the European Super League, Miguel draws on exclusive interviews and unprecedented access to key stakeholders to produce an all-encompassing expose of modern footballs highest echelons.<br/><br/><b>Authoritative, riveting and eye-opening,<i> States of Play</i> reveals how football has become a tool for the world's elite.</b><br/>______________________________<br/><br/><b><i>'T</i>he moral compass that the game needs.'</b> <i>Andy Brassell</i><br/><br/><b>'In this excellent investigation, Delaney reveals the ugly side of the beautiful game.'</b> <i>Oliver Bullough</i><br/><br/><b>'The most important football book of its generation.'</b> <i>Jack Pitt-Brooke</i><br/><br/><i>'</i><b>Tackles the major issues affecting football today with fearlessness and forensic scrutiny. An important investigation for our times.'</b> <i>Laurie Whitwell</i><br/><br/><b>'A majestic book. The essential guide to how the people's game has become the plaything of the very rich and powerful.'</b> <i>Jonathan Wilson</i><br/><br/>Miguel Delaney's <i>STATES OF PLAY </i>was ranked in the<i> Irish Times </i>bestsellers list the weeks of 11th-18th November & 9th December 2024.</b>

<b>Pablo Escobar had one obsession. Not drugs, not money, not power... football.</b><br/><br/>Narcoball uncovers the incredible story of Colombian football during the early 1990s - shaped by drug lords, rivalries, and ambition. It uncovers a football empire backed by cartels - where victory was a currency of its own, and defeat, a matter of life and death.<br/><br/>This is a different story of Pablo Escobar and his rivals. A tale of clandestine deals that reshaped Medellin's football clubs, where fortunes were won and lost. It unveils the extraordinary bonds that Escobar forged with football's luminaries and why his influence reached unprecedented heights, leading to the astonishing 5-0 victory over Argentina in Buenos Aires, the murder of referees, and the ruthless coercion of officials culminating in the killing of Andres Escobar - the Colombian defender who paid the ultimate price for an own goal in the 1994 World Cup. It is also an examination of a people's relationship with both the sport and the nefarious leaders that brought both pride and terror to their communities.<br/><br/>Set against the U.S War on Drugs, international threats, and government clampdowns, this is a gripping exploration of Colombian club football under Escobar's rise and fall.