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

by Lucinao Wernicke

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781989555842
Publisher:	Sutherland House Books
Publication date:	11/08/2022
Pages:	240
Sales rank:	418,289
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 6.00(h) x (d)

About the Author

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

Editorial Reviews

"Luciano Wernicke’s book “Dark Goals” details the beautiful game’s use in pursuit of ugly agendas...Every journalist needs a beat, and in choosing the world’s most popular game Wernicke has found a good one, authoring over 20 books, most of them about soccer. With “Dark Goals” he’s gone further, though, and built himself a secure niche. It’s certain he’ll be able to amend and update his catalogue of horrors for many years to come, because when it comes to bad people using the beautiful game to advance nefarious ends, the subject is regrettably evergreen." -Toronto Star

From the Publisher