Holiday gift ideas for soccer fans

1. SOCCER BOOKS

Soccer fans love books especially when they’re from some of the best authors in the business and on topics that only hardcore soccer fans could love.

This year, there are several wonderful titles to choose from such as:

— DAS REBOOT by Rafa Honigstein

Raphael Honigstein charts the return of German soccer from the dreary functionality of the late 1990s to Götze’s moment of sublime, balletic genius and asks: How did this come about? The answer takes him from California to Stuttgart, from Munich to the Maracanã, via Dortmund and Amsterdam. Packed with exclusive interviews with key figures, including Jürgen Klinsmann, Thomas Müller, Oliver Bierhoff, and many more, Honigstein’s book reveals the secrets of German soccer’s success.

Order the book | Read our review of the book | Listen to our author interview.

— I BELIEVE IN MIRACLES by Daniel Taylor

This is the story of the epic five-year journey that saw Nottingham Forest complete a real football miracle and Brian Clough brilliantly restore his reputation after his infamous 44-day spell at Leeds United. Forest won the First Division championship, two League Cups and back-to-back European Cups and they did it, incredibly, with five of the players Clough inherited at a club that was trying to avoid relegation to the third tier of English football.

Order the book | Listen to our author interview.

— LEADING by Sir Alex Ferguson

After an astonishing career-first in Scotland, and then over 27 years with Manchester United Football Club- Sir Alex Ferguson delivers Leading, in which the greatest soccer coach of all time will analyze the pivotal leadership decisions of his 38 years as a manager and, with his friend and collaborator Sir Michael Moritz, draw out lessons anyone can use in business and life to generate long-term transformational success.

Order the book | Read our review of the book.

Other recommended books:

— The Ugly Game (listen to our interview with the co-author)
— Cristiano Ronaldo: The Biography (listen to our interview with the co-author)
— Rock and Roll Soccer (listen to our interview with the co-author)
— A Season in the Red (listen to our interview with the co-author)

2. VIDEO AND COMPUTER GAMES

When there are no soccer games scheduled, the next best thing to turn to are the video and computer games from Sports Interactive and EA Sports. Be sure to get the latest releases.

— FOOTBALL MANAGER 2016 from Sports Interactive

New features include:

• New Game Mode – Fantasy Draft Create your dream team and take on your mates in ‘Fantasy Draft’ mode. Starting with a fixed budget, each manager builds a squad from scratch, competing with other managers to sign the best talent before going head-to-head against one another in a mini-league.

• New Game Mode – Create-A-Club For the first time, Football Manager 2016 allows fans to add their own custom-built club to any league they choose, through the single player ‘Create-a-club’ mode. Create-A-Club allows you to name the club, add yourself and friends to the line-up, edit the squad to you

• Manager on the Touchline Get closer to the action than ever before with your own customisable character to bark out instructions and join the celebrations from the touchline.

• Improved Matchday Experience More than 2,000 new animations, alongside lots of other graphical improvements and improved AI, make the Football Manager 2016 match view the best ever.

Order the game | Read our review.

— FIFA 16 by EA SPORTS

New features include:

• Supports single-player, local multiplayer, and online multiplayer.

• Interception Intelligence – Rewritten for FIFA 16, Interception Intelligence can be adjusted in Custom Tactics so you can control how aggressive your teammates are on the ball.

• No Touch Dribbling – Lionel Messi was motion captured to create an innovative dribble control system that gives players the freedom to decide not just how, but when to touch the ball.

• Women’s National Teams – For the first time ever in an EA SPORTS FIFA franchise title, compete with 12 top-ranked Women’s National Teams.

Order the game | Read our review.

3. GIANT DECALS AND STANDUPS FOR YOUR HOME

If you want to decorate your room, dorm or man cave, consider some of these giant decals from Fathead. Click on the images for more details.

4. RETRO SOCCER JERSEYS

If you want to wear classic replicas of your favorite soccer jerseys, click on the images below. Or if you don’t see your favorite club featured, visit this link to see the entire online catalog.