If you’ve got a child who is more interested in fantastic footballers likeNeymar than reading, then you might be wondering how you can get them into liking fiction as much.

The answer can be to combine the two. There are lots of good books out there – both fiction and nonfiction – about football, ranging from coaching guides to books full of fun facts to inspiring tales of young players achieving their dreams in the game.

Fantastic Footballers: Meet 40 Game Changers 

Fantastic Footballers by Jean-Michel Billioud is a brilliant book for introducing your kids to footballing greats who came before their time. It features players past and present, both male and female with lots of illustrations, facts and stats.

The best thing about Fantastic Footballers is it’s the sort of book that your kids can pick up at any time, turn to a random page and discover a new hero. It could be Johan Cruyff on a Tuesday after school, Ronaldo before bedtime, the USA star Mia Hamm or Marta (the highest scoring player in any world cup) before breakfast.

They’ll also end up learning more about the players who may have inspired you to like football, bringing you closer together over a shared appreciation for Gianluigi Buffon or Thierry Henry.

Girls FC

The Girls FC series by Helena Pielichaty has become a firm favourite with football mad girls. Each of the books features a different player and the journey they undertake to achieve their dreams of playing football.

The first book focuses on Megan Fawcett, a goalkeeper who has to set up her own team in order to play girls football – a story strikingly similar to England Lionesses’ striker Nikita Parris, who did the same in Liverpool when she was growing up.

With England’s Women’s World Cup campaign having caught the imagination of more young girls than ever, Girls FC is the perfect book to keep them engaged in the game!

50 Football Skills

One of the best ways to get your children into reading if they really dislike it is by giving them a book that they don’t even realise they are reading. That’s where 50 Football Skills published by Usborne comes in.

This title contains 50 different skills and practices for young players to try, ranging from the basics of attacking play to more complex situations such as timing the perfect run to remain onside. It’s a bit like a We Make Footballers session in a book, just without the expert coaching.

The book is pocket-sized, which means that kids can take it to the park with them and read it while practicing the techniques contained within. And when they’re doing that, they won’t even feel like they’re reading.

Truth or Busted: The Fact or Fiction Behind Football

If your kids love weird and wonderful football facts, then Truth or Busted is the book for them. It covers such incidents as the Hand of God or the famous Christmas Day football match during World War I.

Various football myths and facts are explored in a child friendly way, providing plenty of ammunition for kids to impress their friends with back in the school playground or at their football club.

Final Whistle

Given that Final Whistle by Dan Freedman has been made into a hugely popular CBBC TV series, there’s every chance that your children will already be familiar with it. In which case they are almost certainly guaranteed to like the books.

If they aren’t aware of Final Whistle, then the fact it has sold over 700,000 copies should tell you of its popularity. There are eight books in the series following both girls and boys through their footballing lives.

Roy of the Rovers

Yes, Roy Race and Melchester Rovers are still going strong. Or to be more precise, the new Roy Race is. In 2018, comic book publisher Rebellion acquired the rights and turned it into a new set of both comics and novels.

Race is now a 16-year-old in the present day trying to make his way with Melchester following Rebellion’s decision to reboot the series. Which is brilliant news as it means that both you and your kids can enjoy his journey from young hopeful to winning nine League Titles, eight FA Cups and three European Cups.

Let’s just hope he doesn’t have to have his famous left foot amputated after a helicopter crash again.

We hope that this list of football themed books can help your child get into reading whilst enjoying learning new things about their favourite sport!