"These books address a largely unfilled niche: short, highly readable biographies of contemporary soccer stars. The texts are printed over and around voluminous, richly printed photographs and include many pages of scoring statistics and league standings, awards, even a QR code to direct readers to a video of Zlatan's 40-yard bicycle-kick goal in a 2012 match against England. Frequent references to great players of the past--Maradona, Pele, Cruyff, Eusebio--lend the books a welcome historical context.... These entries are excellent...." --School Library Journal

Learn all about the 2018 World Cup! Discover the tournament's brightest stars, including unstoppable scorers Messi, Neymar, and Ronaldo, promising newcomers like France's Mbappe, and the world's best goalkeeper, Neuer. Get the inside scoop on the teams heading to the showdown in Moscow-and why the Americans fell short. Here are the backstories to previous tournaments-from the first small Cup in Uruguay to the shocking French loss in 1996 to Germany's recent triumph in Brazil. Filled with World Cup records, player stats, and incredible action shots of on-field wizardry.