The Away Game: The Epic Search for Soccer's Next Superstars

by Sebastian Abbot

Overview

“An exhilarating, at times heartbreaking, and ultimately unforgettable journey that lays bare the true human stakes of the world’s most popular game.”—Warren St. John, best-selling author of Outcasts United

Searching for soccer’s next superstars, an audacious program called Football Dreams held tryouts for millions of 13-year-old boys across Africa. In The Away Game, Sebastian Abbot follows several of the boys as they chase their dreams in a dizzying world of rich Arab sheikhs, money-hungry agents, and soccer-mad European fans.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393356779
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	03/12/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	304
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.00(d)

About the Author

Sebastian Abbot worked for the Associated Press in Cairo and Islamabad, where he was bureau chief. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Princeton University and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He lives in New York.

Table of Contents

Prologue ix

Part 1 Boys

1 The Tornado 3

2 The Skipper 28

3 The Target 50

Part 2 Trainees

4 The Academy 65

5 Final Tryout 79

6 Sent Off 102

7 Brothers 125

8 Glory and Shame 141

9 The Milk Cup 168

Part 3 Pros

10 Battle of Belgium 195

11 Miracle Land 221

12 Only the Beginning 234

Epilogue 255

Acknowledgments 261

A Note on Sources 265

Photograph Credits 273

Index 275

Editorial Reviews

"Masterfully weaves together the stories of boys from a renowned soccer academy in Doha in an illuminating narrative."— Sports Illustrated

"What a fantastic story: a soccer-themed mix of Hoop Dreams and The Sports Gene.… A tale with universal appeal to anyone who cares about the human condition."— Grant Wahl, author of The Beckham Experiment

"Every fan of international soccer must read The Away Game."— Helon Habila, author of Oil on Water and The Chibok Girls

"An excellent introduction to this shady world."— Nicolas van de Walle Foreign Affairs

From the Publisher

★ 2018-01-08
Exploring the fine line between opportunity and exploitation in the world of African youth soccer.In his first book, former AP Islamabad bureau chief Abbot writes about Football Dreams, a program aimed at finding future soccer superstars in Africa. In 2007, Josep Colomer, a scout and youth director from the legendary FC Barcelona, undertook an extensive journey through seven African countries for the purpose of tapping into the continent's rich soccer talent pool. Football Dreams would operate under the auspices of Qatar's Aspire Academy, an institution geared toward improving that country's soccer talent as the country approaches its hosting duties for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, sparing no expense along the way. Colomer and his associates identified a talented group of young 13-year-old African boys to bring to Qatar. The stated goal was to develop players who could achieve their dreams of playing at the highest level in Europe's professional leagues. However, the academy encountered problems due to the fact that the goals were not entirely clear and the methods not transparent. For every player who found a modicum of success, many more fell by the wayside. Abbot focuses on three of these young men while telling the stories of several others. He investigates the nature of talent development and the mysteries of the Qatari motivations, and he shows how the players, many from profoundly disadvantaged backgrounds, were exposed to almost unimaginably opulent surroundings at Aspire even as they were pulled in multiple directions by their club coaches back in Ghana and Senegal, their families, and the desires of officials at Aspire. Abbot also explores the problems with identifying the true ages of players and reveals how Aspire refused to allow some of its players to explore their possibilities in Europe. A solid storyteller, the author ensures that readers are invested in the dreams, lives, successes, and heartbreaks of these young men.A sobering look at the realities of the pursuit of big-time sporting opportunities.

Kirkus Reviews

2019 PEN/ESPN Award for Literary Sports Writing, Long-listed