Jonathan Wilson’s comprehensive history of the World Cup is not just about football. During the five hundred plus pages he makes a strong case that the story of the World Cup is also the story of the world. 

Wilson explains, “It is a book about the World Cup, about great players, about great goals, great matches, but it is also about football as a tool for self-projection and for influence-peddling, about the role it increasingly plays as countries negotiate their positions in a globalised world. From its inception, the World Cup has been a vehicle for far more than football.”

The founder of the World Cup, Jules Rimet believed that sport could unite the world, but unfortunately the World Cup has always been exploited for other means.  

Long before sportswashing, long before Russia and Qatar had shown you that you didn’t have to win the tournament to gain a propaganda success, that hosting it was enough, the World Cup was being exploited. Every host has tried to use the tournament as an expression of self-confidence or modernity, or just to prove that they are relevant, a central part of a broader community.

It has been claimed that the World Cup put Uruguay on the map, reintegrated post-war West Germany into the global community and ended racism in France. These assertions are all nonsense of course, but that doesn’t mean that the assertions are not revealing about the people and cultures that made them.

Wilson states, “Football does matter, does offer insights, often unconscious into the desires and doubts of a culture, never more so than during the World Cup.” 

As you would expect Wilson covers every World Cup from 1930 to 2022, he delves into the origins of each tournament, the political drivers and the impacts of the tournaments as well as the key matches, players and officials.

Wilson and many others believe that from a purely football perspective the 1970 World Cup in Mexico was the most memorable. Carlos Alberto’s iconic fourth goal for Brazil against Italy capped off a superlative final victory. “For many, it’s the greatest goal scored by the greatest team in the greatest World Cup, a glorious synthesis of team play and individual technical excellence. “

Wilson summarises, “Ever since, there has been a sense of football trying to recapture the spirit of 1970, that feeling of rapturous and perhaps impossible excitement.”

‘The Power and the Glory’ is an impressive history. An epic production, impactful and extensively researched, offering new insights into football’s greatest tournament. 

It is also a great preparation for the upcoming World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the USA, which is likely to be one of the most controversial in the tournament’s history. 

The Power and the Glory: A New History of the World Cup by Jonathan Wilson. Published by Abacus Books. Price £25.

This review first appeared in the March/April 2026 edition of Late Tackle magazine.