ABSTRACT
This chapter sets out to achieve a number of objectives, most notably to
introduce readers to this book. The chapter begins by providing a brief history
of football. Given the global development of the sport, generalising and
summarising its history is not an easy task. As such, the history presented is
simply one version among many stories, myths, and legends. Significantly,
however, it illustrates that the popularity of football is not simply a recent
phenomenon and that the sport is deeply socioculturally embedded. When
addressing the challenges facing managers in modern football, especially
those relating to commercial developments, this is an important point to
remember. The chapter then goes on to highlight some of the key features of
football, noting the size and nature of the football industry, as well as exam-
ining its distinctive characteristics. This is intended to serve as a backdrop
against which subsequent chapters in this book should be read. In brief, each
of these chapters is then previewed, and the reasons for dividing this book into
four sections are explained. The chapter concludes by directing readers to key
sources of information; it is hoped that this will help both newcomers to
football and those with a long-standing interest in the sport to develop
a stronger appreciation of what many people refer to as the ‘‘global game.’’
