Tor! Ulrich Hesse-Lichtenberger

I knew I was the target market for this book by page 10, "have you ever wondered why TSV Munich have 1860 as a suffix when the German game didn't exist until the 1880s?" It's precisely the sort of thing I have pondered on and off for about 25 years.

Tor (meaning Goal) is an evenly written, chronological account of German football history. It's similar to Phil Ball's book on Spanish football and no surprise that both writers contribute to When Saturday Comes. The book is undercut with humour and demolishes stereotypes with teutonic efficiency.

Sometimes he jumps onto a detail and weaves a story around it. The Adidas / Puma chapter was almost Chatwinesque and even when the realisation dawned before the end of the story, it didn't detract. It was all in the scene setting.

The GDR has its own fascinating chapter. The notion that success would reflect well on the local Communist officials led to whole teams being uprooted in the dead of night. You need a decent Berlin team? Bring that one from Dresden over. Stasi informers were everywhere; in the stands, on the bench, playing the holding role in midfield. East Germany first crossed swords with their neighbouring capitalist dogs in the 1974 World Cup, beating them 1-0. They heroically defended this record by refusing a rematch. East Germany sounds awful and amazing and it was only, like, just over there. Excellent stuff.