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An Austrian forward’s death is still shrouded in mystery. A striker who might have become a telephone technician had he not been spotted playing soccer was eventually elected president of his country. And there are unanswered questions. How did Pelé’s Brazil shirt from the 1958 World Cup quarterfinal go missing in a Welsh school? Which goalkeeper was so good that one opponent considered scoring against him akin to “winning a trophy”? Through extensive research and interviews, The Athletic soccer staff, led by Oliver Kay and James Horncastle, discovered angles and tales that shine a new light on the sport’s most compelling characters. They faced an impossible riddle, too: Of the thousands of players to hit the pitch, who is the best? Their efforts to find the answer took the foremost sports newsroom on a journey, and what emerges is more than a ranking. Through all-new, vivid portraits of each athlete, The Soccer 100 is a tribute to the greatest players to have ever graced the most popular sport on the planet.","forthcoming":false,"isbn13":"9780063412675","publication_date":"20251118","publisher":"HarperCollins","slug":"the-soccer-100","subtitle":"","title":"The Soccer 100"},"discovery":{"categories":{"all":[{"bisac_code":"YAN053100","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Soccer","score":0.8028,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"SPO061030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Soccer Coaching","score":0.7629,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"hint":[{"bisac_code":"YAN053100","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Soccer","score":0.8028,"source":"bisac_hint_model"},{"bisac_code":"SPO061030","confidence_band":"medium","label":"Soccer Coaching","score":0.7629,"source":"bisac_hint_model"}],"publisher":[{"bisac_code":"HIS037070","confidence_band":"high","label":"20th-Century History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"HIS037080","confidence_band":"high","label":"21st-Century History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SPO019000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Sports History","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SPO033000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Sports Resources","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"},{"bisac_code":"SPO040000","confidence_band":"high","label":"Soccer","score":1,"source":"onix_publisher_code"}]},"genres":[{"label":"Soccer","score":0.8028,"slug":"soccer"},{"label":"Soccer Coaching","score":0.7629,"slug":"soccer-coaching"}],"reader_fit":["Good for readers interested in soccer's greatest players and their stories","Readers seeking vivid portraits of influential soccer players"],"related_lists":[],"series":null,"similar_books":[{"authors":["Eduardo Galeano","Rory Smith"],"book_id":"9781645030379","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781645030379.jpg?v=c4fc0a422bad7fe9","score":0.7916,"title":"Soccer in Sun and Shadow","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781645030379"},{"authors":["Travis DiLeo"],"book_id":"9780593886151","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780593886151.jpg?v=afae88478aa0c474","score":0.7833,"title":"Soccer Stars","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780593886151"},{"authors":["John Gillard"],"book_id":"9780789345820","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780789345820.jpg?v=10940f373d930052","score":0.7682,"title":"The World Atlas of Football Stadiums","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780789345820"},{"authors":["Mickaël Correia","Jean-Christophe Deveney"],"book_id":"9780745352398","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780745352398.jpg?v=ea5b9054096287fb","score":0.7414,"title":"A People's History of Soccer","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780745352398"},{"authors":["Dan Wetzel"],"book_id":"9781250619839","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781250619839.jpg?v=d61f888ead233cbc","score":0.7356,"title":"Epic Athletes: Lionel Messi","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781250619839"},{"authors":["Clive Gifford"],"book_id":"9780753480441","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780753480441.jpg?v=a3708395d0f9a3bf","score":0.7327,"title":"The Kingfisher Soccer Encyclopedia","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780753480441"},{"authors":["Joe Posnanski"],"book_id":"9781982180591","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9781982180591.jpg?v=9050a475d3326035","score":0.7309,"title":"The Baseball 100","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9781982180591"},{"authors":["Franklin Foer"],"book_id":"9780061978050","cover_image_url":"https://img.bookfrontier.com/9780061978050.jpg?v=b16e9ce4b43c4151","score":0.7145,"title":"How Soccer Explains the World","url":"https://bookfrontier.com/books/9780061978050"}],"topics":[{"evidence_refs":["keyword:history books"],"label":"History","score":0.4536,"slug":"history"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:girl"],"label":"Girl","score":0.0897,"slug":"girl"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:world"],"label":"World","score":0.0848,"slug":"world"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:sports books"],"label":"Sports","score":0.0679,"slug":"sports"},{"evidence_refs":["keyword:greatest of all time"],"label":"Time","score":0.0334,"slug":"time"}],"what_you_get":["Themes: Soccer history, Greatest-player debates, Athlete legacies.","Themes: History, Girl, Sports.","Reading lane: Soccer and Soccer Coaching."]},"llm_signals":{"confidence":0.9,"pacing":"unknown","reader_fit":["Readers interested in soccer's greatest players and their stories","Readers seeking vivid portraits of influential soccer players"],"themes":["Soccer history","Greatest-player debates","Athlete legacies"],"tropes":[]},"source_presence":{"amazon":true,"book_detail":true,"goodreads":true,"llm_signals":true,"similarity_seed":true},"stats":{"amazon_ratings_count":64,"goodreads_ratings_count":31,"goodreads_reviews_count":5,"quality_score":0.8604}}