The Game at the End of the World
Villainous Referees, Communist Bakers, the Secret Women's World Cup, and a Goalkeeper's Last Stand
Published on 5. May 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-1-63206-411-0 (ISBN)
Description
Exuberant, playful, and evergreen, The Game at the End of the World revels in the grass-stained highlights of a sport without borders or boundaries.
Soccer (nee football) fans will rejoice at this all-new volume of crackling essays from the author of God Is Round. Here, Juan Villoro explores the sport through the elements that make it the world's favorite pastime, from its ancient origins, near-mythic players, exhilarating matches, endemic rivalries, and the unlikely moments in which football has changed history.
As a prolific writer and chronicler of World Cup games around the world, Villoro draws on a rich cultural mosaic to inspire readers, players, and fans long after the final whistle blows. With a journalist's ear and a philosopher's outlook, he has produced a collection for curious newcomers and lifelong football buffs alike.
Soccer (nee football) fans will rejoice at this all-new volume of crackling essays from the author of God Is Round. Here, Juan Villoro explores the sport through the elements that make it the world's favorite pastime, from its ancient origins, near-mythic players, exhilarating matches, endemic rivalries, and the unlikely moments in which football has changed history.
As a prolific writer and chronicler of World Cup games around the world, Villoro draws on a rich cultural mosaic to inspire readers, players, and fans long after the final whistle blows. With a journalist's ear and a philosopher's outlook, he has produced a collection for curious newcomers and lifelong football buffs alike.
Reviews / Votes
"Juan Villoro is one of my all-time people-a genuine public intellectual who wears his own importance lightly, and a truly gifted writer who manages to be hilarious, incisive, and meaningful all at once. A book by Villoro about futbol, his favorite sport, is something of an apotheosis. The Game at the End of the World is simply a delight, and a must-read for aficionados of 'the people's game,' or for anyone who loves a damned good story, well told."- Jon Lee Anderson
"Villoro's winning collection of soccer essays and reporting includes gratifying entries on fandom, rivalries, scandals, coaches, officials, and players both famed and obscure."
- Kirkus Reviews
"This brilliant book by Juan Villoro, one of the world's most literary aficionados of the sport of futball/soccer, contains everything you need to know about its history, its heroes, its joys and its sorrows. It is also seems to me a magnificent handbook to the forthcoming World Cup."
- Paul Theroux, author of Dark Star Safari
"From futbol's origins to its major players, legendary rivalries, thrilling matches, and lore, this is going to be a great read for anyone with a love of the game."
- Book Riot
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
Illustrations
Dimensions
Height: 139 mm
Width: 210 mm
Thickness: 21 mm
Weight
408 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-63206-411-0 (9781632064110)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Juan Villoro
The Game at the End of the World
Villainous Referees, Communist Bakers, the Secret Women's World Cup, and a Goalkeeper's Last Stand
E-Book
05/2026
Restless Books
€9.49
Available for download
Persons
Juan Villoro is a prize-winning Mexican author, playwright, journalist, and screenwriter. His books have been translated into multiple languages. Several of his books have appeared in English, including his celebrated 2016 essay collection on soccer brought out by Restless Books, God Is Round. Villoro lives in Mexico City and has been a visiting lecturer at Yale, Princeton, and Stanford.
Francisco Cantu is a writer, translator, and the author of The Line Becomes a River, winner of the 2018 Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in nonfiction. He has been the recipient of a Fulbright, a Pushcart Prize, a Whiting Award, an Art for Justice fellowship, and the Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano Literature. His writing and translations have been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Review, Granta, Guernica, and VQR, as well as on This American Life. He lives in Tucson, where he is an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Arizona and a co-coordinator of the Field Studies in Writing Program and the oral history archive DETAINED: Voices from the Migrant Incarceration System.
Francisco Cantu is a writer, translator, and the author of The Line Becomes a River, winner of the 2018 Los Angeles Times Book Prize and a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award in nonfiction. He has been the recipient of a Fulbright, a Pushcart Prize, a Whiting Award, an Art for Justice fellowship, and the Luis Leal Award for Distinction in Chicano Literature. His writing and translations have been featured in The New Yorker, The New York Review, Granta, Guernica, and VQR, as well as on This American Life. He lives in Tucson, where he is an assistant professor of creative writing at the University of Arizona and a co-coordinator of the Field Studies in Writing Program and the oral history archive DETAINED: Voices from the Migrant Incarceration System.