The “Soccer Champions” series introduces professional soccer teams around the world. Each volume discusses the sport and its tournaments within the relevant country and region, then follows up with chapters tracing the team’s history and emphasizing its most memorable achievements and star players. The writing is at its best when spotlighting an outstanding player or era rather than detailing decades of a venerable club’s up and downs. With large glossy pages and plenty of color photos, the series has visual appeal. The many quotes are attributed within the text to the speaker or writer, but there are no appended notes identifying sources. Instead, the back matter includes features on six memorable matches and six outstanding players, boxes showing title-winning seasons, and brief lists of books and websites. Boca Juniors tells of Boca Juniors, a team formed in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in 1905. LA Galaxy introduces the Galaxy, a Los Angeles team that first took the field in 1996. River Plate tells of Club Atlético River Plate, in Buenos Aires. Longtime local rivals of Boca Juniors, they started to play in 1901. Santos FC celebrates Brazil’s Santos Football Club from its beginnings, in 1912, to the present. The volumes on American teams may be the most useful, since they are seldom covered in other soccer-book series.
–Carolyn Phelan, Booklist , 2/15/2019
