Umschaltspiel

Football, it is said, writes the most incredible stories. It’s high time for an incredibly good story about football. Michael Cox tells it starting from 1992, when the change in the back-pass rule and the introduction of the Champions League transformed the sport and triggered another wave of professionalization. Cox traces how the major European football countries dominated with their clubs and national teams for a time, until the competition cracked their success code and drove evolution further. He portrays the defining figures of these nearly three decades, such as José Mourinho's shrewd defensive machines, Pep Guardiola's short-pass tiki-taka, and Jürgen Klopp's counter-pressing and transition play, explaining their tactical innovations. He also recalls legendary matches, such as the moment when Portuguese national goalkeeper Ricardo suddenly took off his gloves in the quarter-finals of the 2004 European Championship, saved the last penalty from the English, and converted the decisive one himself.