Football Disco! The Unbelievable World of Football Record Covers

Outlining of the history of football through graphic football record sleeves

As this fascinating book shows, the football record-which turns out to be a vast subgenre of its own-has more to offer than just music: the sleeves of these seven-inch records outline the history of football in a truly unique way. They tell of promotions, championship titles, finals and ground inaugurations, and document the evolution of equipment (for example, from the heavy brown leather ball to the TV-friendly black-and-white ball); they also show how the typography and imagery changed from one World Cup to another. Each cover is a piece of commercial art and a testament to its time, narrating the history of football in a fun, informative and special fashion.

Based on a collection of 930 cases of records from the 1950s to the present, Football Disco! tells the story of clubs such as Botafogo and Boca, Norwich and Nantes, Spartak and Dynamo, and celebrates footballers as pop stars: Pele and Beckenbauer, Muller and Milla, Hoddle and Waddle, Scifo and Sanchez. Texts on football and music in Italy, Argentina, Germany and England situate the collection in a historical, regional and cultural context.