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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #253708 in Books
• Published on: 2006-05-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

Review
'Once Freeman concentrates on just letting events and people speak for themselves he produces a sobering, at times compelling, tale of flickering hope' -- When Saturday Comes 20050901 'This month's most interesting football book by far' -- Bookseller 20050506 'Freeman is at his best, challenging preconceptions and presenting his research in an admirably non-didactic way ... a moving and clear-sighted investigation' -- Fourfourtwo 20051001 'Through a fascinating cast of characters, author Simon Freeman uncovers the full story in all its chilling detail ... A fascinating look at how the beautiful game was used as an ugly front for violence' -- MOD Focus 20051001 'One of the best football books of the year ... hugely readable ... some amazing stories' -- World Soccer 20051001 'Intelligently written and thorough account' -- Global, Essex 20051101 'Compelling and harrowing ... interesting characters ... Freeman has a good story to tell ... he writes well about the nightmarish chaos into which Iraq has descended' -- Sunday Telegraph 20050731 'Baghdad FC reveals a huge amount about Iraq ... comprehensive and informative' -- Metro [London] 20050727 'Simon Freeman, after 200-odd pages of intelligent and thorough research, can only conclude that in football, like everything else in Iraq, the situation is "mad and sad".' -- The Times 20050730 'One of modern football's most compelling tales ... a thought-provoking read ... What Freeman documents with great deftness and empathy is the malevolent manner in which the state infiltrated every area of Iraqi life' -- Scotland On Sunday 20050731 'Brilliantly told, tempering the deluge of horror stories with an easy, personable style ... a piece of social commentary ... it's a welcome one' -- Arena 20050901 '[A] perceptive glimpse of a rotten tyranny going belly up ... [Freeman is ] an honest witness to a brutalised country's hatred for its bungling liberators' -- Literary Review 20050801 'Excellent' -- Sunday Times Travel Magazine 20050901 'Iraq's football story is fascinating' -- Independent 20050819 'Highly readable ... a detailed study of what must rank as one of the darkest episodes in football's history ... draws on a fascinating array of characters' -- Mail on Sunday 20050821 'This perceptive book makes clear that sport in Iraq was and still is a microcosm of the country itself' -- Sunday Times / Culture 20060625 'The fascinating and shocking story of football in Irag, pre- and post-invasion' -- Andrew Baker, Daily Telegraph 20060511 'Freeman's account of the chaos following the 'liberation' makes for grim reading' -- Simon Shaw, Mail on Sunday 20060521 'Few [tracts] will be as stark or as accessible as this' -- Scott Wilson, Southern Daily Echo 20060601 'The story is a good one ... Freeman does some good delving to reveal these horrors and he provides intriguing portraits' -- Times Literary Supplement 20050819 'There are sports stories, and then there are real sports stories. The torture of athletes at the hands of government is about as real as it gets. Simon Freeman ably chronicles one of the most dramatic chapters in the history of sports. It is a fascinating, complex story that demands to be told, and to be read. In many ways, it is the story of Iraq itself' -- Tom Farrey, ESPN 20051104 'Highly readable ... the book draws on a fascinating array of characters to explain what it was like to be a sportsman in Saddam's Iraq' -- Ireland on Sunday 20050821 'Tells of brutality, brief triumph, cowardice, paranoia, boastful self-justification and a thwarted quest for truth ... troubling' -- Traveller 20050901

Review
‘Compelling and harrowing . . . interesting characters . . . Freeman has a good story to tell . . . he writes well about the nightmarish chaos into which Iraq has descended’ (Sunday Telegraph 20060521)

'Baghdad FC reveals a huge amount about Iraq . . . comprehensive and informative' (Metro [London] 20060601)

'Simon Freeman, after 200-odd pages of intelligent and thorough research, can only conclude that in football, like everything else in Iraq, the situation is "mad and sad".' (The Times 20051104)

‘One of modern football’s most compelling tales . . . a thought-provoking read . . . What Freeman documents with great deftness and empathy is the malevolent manner in which the state infiltrated every area of Iraqi life’ (Scotland On Sunday 20050821)

'Brilliantly told, tempering the deluge of horror stories with an easy, personable style . . . a piece of social commentary . . . it's a welcome one' (Arena 20050819)

‘[A] perceptive glimpse of a rotten tyranny going belly up . . . [Freeman is ] an honest witness to a brutalised country’s hatred for its bungling liberators’ (Literary Review 20050901)

'Excellent'

(Sunday Times Travel Magazine )

‘Iraq’s football story is fascinating’ (Independent )

‘Highly readable . . . a detailed study of what must rank as one of the darkest episodes in football’s history . . . draws on a fascinating array of characters’

(Mail on Sunday )

‘This perceptive book makes clear that sport in Iraq was and still is a microcosm of the country itself’

(Sunday Times / Culture )

‘The fascinating and shocking story of football in Irag, pre- and post-invasion’

(Andrew Baker, Daily Telegraph )

‘Freeman’s account of the chaos following the ‘liberation’ makes for grim reading’

(Simon Shaw, Mail on Sunday )

‘Few [tracts] will be as stark or as accessible as this.’

(Scott Wilson, Southern Daily Echo )

'There are sports stories, and then there are real sports stories. The torture of athletes at the hands of government is about as real as it gets. Simon Freeman ably chronicles one of the most dramatic chapters in the history of sports. It is a fascinating, complex story that demands to be told, and to be read. In many ways, it is the story of Iraq itself'

(Tom Farrey, ESPN )

'Highly readable . . . the book draws on a fascinating array of characters to explain what it was like to be a sportsman in Saddam’s Iraq'

 

(Ireland on Sunday )

‘The story is a good one . . . Freeman does some good delving to reveal these horrors and he provides intriguing portraits’

 

(Times Literary Supplement )

‘Tells of brutality, brief triumph, cowardice, paranoia, boastful self-justification and a thwarted quest for truth . . . troubling’

(Traveller )

World Soccer, August 2005
'Simon Freeman's account of football before, during and after the fall of Saddam Hussein ....is hugely readable.'

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Customer Reviews

bag a copy today
Baghdad FC was the surprise hit of my summer reading stack. Having watched my partner devour it on the beach, I started flicking through it myself when I ran out of holiday reading and found I couldn't put it down. I'd thoroughly recommend it; it's so much more than a book about sport. It's engrossing, disturbing, harrowing and often darkly funny - Freeman is a modest and wry narrator. His account of how the Beautiful Game turned hideously ugly in Saddam's Iraq is an epic tale of human strengths, failings and resiliance. Uday, Saddam's crazed and evil eldest son, emerges as a villain of demonic proportions. If he could treat national heroes this grotesquely what hope was there for ordinary Iraqis? Yet the American 'liberators' emerge with scant credit either. They are (doubtless accurately) portrayed as insensitive bullies with the emotional and political intelligence of a baseball bat. Baghdad FC is a clever book offering huge insight to a complex and deeply disturbing situation with global implications. It's also inspirational. Don't miss it!

Harrowing, yet hilarious
National stories can be told through any prism you like. The colours that emerge may be different, but they all reflect the same reality. Baghdad FC is a harrowing account of the survival of football - one of modern Iraq's most enduring passions - during the long years of Saddam Hussein's dictatorship. Once, the "beautiful game" was an escape route for ambitious and energetic young Iraqis, who could make reputations, fame and fortune with their skills on the soccer pitch. Saddam changed all that. Now, as Freeman relates, it was all about the projection of Saddam's image abroad. The President's murderous son, Uday, was placed in charge, and what had been a fabulous pastime for the young and gifted became overnight an endurance marathon, in which failure, or even a below par performance, was met by beatings, imprisonment, even death.

Freeman has spoken to literally hundreds of the main players, both on and off the pitch, who lived through this grotesque psychodrama. Their survivors' tales make grim reading. But there is humour, too. No sooner did the national side get back on its feet after the US-led invasion in 2003 than the pride and the passion were re-ignited - with a vengeance. This time, however, the name of the game was greed. A rising generation of Iraq hopefuls were desperate for the recognition, and the rewards, that a career in football could provide. The author followed the national squad during the World Cup in Greece and a subsequent tour of England. The football, such as it was, was fine. The team did well in Athens. But not sooner had they seen how the established European stars were treated than they were demanding the same money and veneration. The good name and reputation of Iraq was one thing; what really mattered was that they should stay in the best hotels and have someone paid to carry their bags from the team bus into the lobby.

Freeman - a former investigative journalist with the Sunday Times and author of several bestselling books - has found a good story and told it with verve and commitment. Baghdad FC deserves a wide audience.