Get Ready For the World Cup 2026

The World Cup is coming to the Americas in the summer of 2026. It’s a great time for new and old fans of soccer to learn more about the beautiful game in preparation for the most exciting – in my opinion - sporting event in the world. This tournament will see an expanded number of teams, which means there will be more soccer goodness than ever. It’s also the last time that the world could see the two greats, Messi and Ronaldo, perform at this level.

Soccer is a great spectator sport. You can analyze things and make predictions, or you can just get caught up in the drama and enjoy the spectacle. The World Cup can be enjoyed by the whole family. I have such good memories of sitting in my living room with my family and talking about the matches. It’s also neat to support the countries you have connections to by rooting for those teams.

Here is a list of soccer related materials that are available at the Mercer County Library System:

Leading: Learning from Life and My Years at Manchester United

"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.”

Pride of a Nation: A Celebration of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team

“Drawing from extensive photo and print archives, this first official history of the U.S. Women's National Soccer Team pays tribute to one of the most beloved teams in sports, revisiting their historic four World Cup titles and four Olympic gold medals, as well as unforgettable players across the generations.”

Men in Blazers Present Gods of Soccer: The Pantheon of the 100 greatest Soccer Players (According to Us)

"From the hosts of the popular NBC Sports show Men in Blazers and one of the biggest soccer podcasts in the world, Roger Bennett and Michael Davies will profile the greatest male and female soccer players of all time. With the same signature humor as they brought to their New York Times Bestseller Encyclopedia Blazertannica.”

One Goal: A Coach, a Team, and the Game That Brought a Divided Town Together

"In the tradition of Friday Night Lights and Outcasts United, ONE GOAL tells the inspiring story of the soccer team in a town bristling with racial tension that united Somali refugees and multi-generation Mainers in their quest for state--and ultimately national--glory.”

Cristiano Ronaldo: The World at His Feet (DVD)

"Take a revealing, behind-the-scenes look at one of the most polarizing celebrities in the world of sports: Cristiano Ronaldo."

Ronaldo vs. Messi: Face Off! (DVD)

“Experts from Messi’s first coach, Pep Guardiola, to FOX Sports commentator, Warren Barton compare their upbringing, progression into the world of sports, their skills and talents, their current successes and awards, their influence on the game, plus their marketability on and off the field.”

One Life

“The Olympic gold medalist and two-time Women's World Cup champion describes her childhood in a conservative California town, her athletic achievements, and her public advocacy of civil rights and urgently needed social change.”

The Barcelona Complex: Lionel Messi and the Making -- and Unmaking -- of the World's Greatest Soccer Club

"With rare and unrivaled access, bestselling coauthor of Soccernomics and longtime Financial Times journalist Simon Kuper tells the story of how FC Barcelona became the most successful club in the world-and how that era is now ending."

Switching Fields: Inside the Fight to Remake Men's Soccer in the United States

"A Pulitzer Prize-winning sports journalist unravels why the United States has failed to produce elite men's soccer players for so long-and shows why a golden era just might be coming. The contrast is striking. As the United States women's national soccer team has long dominated the sport, winners of four World Cups and four Olympic gold medals, the men's team has floundered. They failed to qualify for the 2018 World Cup and the last three Olympics and have long struggled when facing the world's best teams. How could such a global powerhouse on the women's side-and in other men's team sports-be so far behind the rest of the world? In Switching Fields, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist George Dohrmann turns his investigative focus on the system that develops male soccer players in the United States, examining why the U.S. has struggled for decades to produce elite talent. But rather than just focus on the past, he turns forward, connecting with coaches and players who are changing the way talented players are unearthed and developed: an American living in Japan who devised a new way for kids under five to be introduced to the game; a coach in Los Angeles who traveled to Spain and Argentina and returned with coaching methods he used to school a team of future pros; an Arizona real estate developer whose grand experiment changed the way pro teams in the U.S. develop talent. Following these innovators' inspiring journeys, Dohrmann gives ever-hopeful U.S. soccer fans a reason to believe that a movement is underway that is smashing the developmental status quo, and it has put the United States on the precipice of greatness.”

-Andrew, Lawrence HQ