Dark Goals: How History's Worst Tyrants Have Used and Abused the Game of Soccer

Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Evita and Juan Peron, Augusto Pinochet, and Pablo Escobar

Soccer has been the world's most popular sport for the last century and an irresistible game for political and social leaders seeking shortcuts to the hearts of their people. Some of the prime movers of the twentieth-century, including Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler, Evita and Juan Perón, Augusto Pinochet, and the drug lord Pablo Escobar, have found in soccer a magnificent partner for enflaming patriotism, manipulating the masses, prolonging their stays on the throne, justifying aberrant acts, or simply recreating the old Roman "bread and circuses" (in many cases without the bread). They have tried to turn the beautiful game into something useful. Sometimes it worked, momentarily, but as renowned sports journalist Luciano Wernicke writes in this fascinating and original book, the game and its glories have survived them all.

ISBN-13: 9781989555842

Media Type: Hardcover

Publisher: Sutherland House Books

Publication Date: 11-08-2022

Pages: 240

Product Dimensions: 9.00(w) x 6.00(h) x (d)

Luciano Wernicke was born in Buenos Aires, Argentina; he graduated in journalism from the Universityof Salvador. For twenty years he taught sports journalism in universities such as: Argentine Universityof Enterprise (UADE) and Círculo de Periodistas Deportivos. He has published articles based in numerous countries, such as: Argentina, Colombia, Scotland, United States, and England.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Chapter 1 The Kickoff 1

Chapter 2 Wm or Die 9

Chapter 3 Hitler's Match 36

Chapter 4 Evita's Whim 57

Chapter 5 Red Fury 72

Chapter 6 Professional Amateurism 96

Chapter 7 The Power of the Ball 109

Chapter 8 Diego Maradona, the Ambassador 126

Chapter 9 The Goal Lord 135

Chapter 10 Around the World 152

Epilogue 162

Bibliography 166

Index 172

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