The latest edition of the FIFA World Cup, football’s most prestigious tournament, and an event that many say is actually more popular than even the Olympic Games, is all set to get underway in the USA, Mexico and Canada.
Spread over more than a month (it ends on 19 July, 2026), the 2026 FIFA World Cup is the largest edition of the tournament, with 48 teams (there have never been more than 32) and more than a hundred matches.
It has also inspired a number of books, covering different aspects of the tournament, ranging from its history to the teams and stars that graced it to controversies that have ranged (and are raging) around it. So if you want to know more about the FIFA World Cup, be it the current one or the ones in the past, there are plenty of books to choose from and plenty of pages to bookmark.
The official guide
Written by renowned football journalist Keir Radnedge, the FIFA World Cup 2026: The Official Guide is the perfect book for those who want a quick overview of the tournament and do not want to get overwhelmed by details. This is a classic tournament quick reference book, focusing mainly on the 2026 World Cup. One gets the schedule and details of the format (very important because this time, as they love to say, “It’s complicated”), as well as one page team summaries, with details of which player to look out for. There are also details of the venues, and plenty of high quality photographs and tournament statistics and records.
As this is the “official” guide, the tone is a little sanitised and the language is broadly diplomatic. It is priced at around Rs 1999, which is a little steep for a book that is not heavy on detail, but it is easily the best option if what you want is a reliable, easy to read primer on the 2026 World Cup.
Telling the story of the World Cup through cartoons
Perhaps the most entertaining book on the World Cup comes from renowned Argentinian illustrator German Aczel. Famous for his football illustrations – his drawings are featured in the FIFA World Football Museum in Zurich – Aczel has narrated the history of the World Cup through a series of colourful and entertaining illustrations in the aptly titled The Illustrated History of Football World Cup 1930 – 2026.
Aczel focuses on the major events and players of each tournament going all the way back to the first World Cup held in Uruguay. Spread over a little more than 300 pages, this is an absolute, fun-filled romp through the World Cup over the years, with some spectacular illustrations.
Be it Maradona’s Hand of God, the head butt of Zidane, or even the blaring Vuvuzelas of South Africa, this is a treasure trove for those who love the sport and have followed the tournament.
Some of the pictures seem a little too similar to photographs, and purists will hem and haw about the absence of detail, but this is the closest thing one can get to a cartoon history of the World Cup. It is brilliantly sketched and one of those books that football fans can open at any page, browse for a while and end up smiling. What’s more, at Rs 699, it is not overly expensive, making this hands-down the most accessible book on the football World Cup, be it in terms of readability or affordability.
An award winning modern classic captures the complete World Cup picture
While there are plenty of histories of the World Cup (Brian Glanville’s being the most famous, prior to his death in 2025), most of them tend to focus on the action on the football field and the players. Jonathan Wilson’s The Power and the Glory: A New History of the World Cup takes a rather different approach to the tournament. One of football’s best-known writers (his Inverting the Pyramid is supposed to be THE book to read on football tactics), Wilson covers not just the football played in the World Cup over the years, but also the politics and power plays associated with them.
So while one gets to read about the great Brazilian and Dutch teams, one also gets to know about the controversies surrounding different tournaments. The changing role of FIFA and governments, the allotment of tournaments, controversies around officials and even the cultural impact of different tournaments and players are covered in detail here.
At more than 700 pages and with not too many pictures, this might seem a slightly intimidating book to newcomers to the sport, but it is perhaps the most comprehensive book on the World Cup, not just as a tournament but as a political and cultural institution. Small wonder it won the Overall Sports Book of the Year Award at the 2026 Charles Tyrwhitt Sports Book Awards. No book captures what the World Cup truly means and stands for like Wilson’s modern classic. At Rs 899, it is a must-have for football-loving bookworms.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup is the largest edition of the tournament. (Generated using AI) 
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