Magnum Football. Esa cosa (tan maravillosa) llamada fútbol...

Thomas Hoepker, Trás-os-Montes, Portugal (1992)

Abbas, Teheran, Iran

Herbert List, Napoli, Italia (1959)

Abbas, Guapi, Colombia

Steve McCurry, Sittwe, Burma (1996)

Bruno Barbey, Gabon (1984)
Children playing by a manganese mining transport system

Henri Cartier-Bresson, Madrid, Spain (1933)

Paul Lowe, Qunu, South Africa (1994)

A game in the village where Nelson Mandela was born.

Magnum Photos. Magnum Football. The Book

Across the world, it's fair to say that after eating and breathing, football occupies a high place in the global unification table. More than just 22 men kicking a ball around a field, football stirs passions beyond enlightened rational thought. Governments rise or fall according to results, and even a war was started immediately after one match between El Salvador and Honduras. But football's greatest asset is its ability to offer the fan a true window to the world crossing racial, political, religious and social divides that blight so much of our lives.

Since the 1930s, various Magnum photographers have taken an interest in the football world, documenting football in its social context, its supporters, the premier teams, from grass roots level to the commercialisation of the game, all from across the globe. From Japan to Turkey, Rwanda, Cambodia, Nigeria, Brazil, El Salvador, Italy and England, Magnum's photographers have captured this game we love in their inimitable style during this unprecedented era in football history. The images combine the beauty of football for the aficionado with the aesthetic quality associated with the world's foremost photographic collective, creating a document that reflects the Magnum group's concern with and understanding of the social world.