Presents that pack a punch: the best sports books of the year

A Beautiful Game by Sven-Goran Eriksson (Michael Joseph £25, 304pp)

More than just a hugely respected football manager, Sven-Goran Eriksson always struck one as a very likeable, thoughtful chap, with an admirable penchant for extremely attractive girlfriends.

This reflective, even elegiac memoir, was written in the months between his cancer diagnosis and his death in August this year.

He doesn’t shirk from criticism, confronting the backlash over his management of England’s ‘golden generation’, and the media’s relentless interest in his colourful private life.

When he was managing the Roman super-club Lazio, Eriksson signed the prolific Italian striker Christian Vieri. Vieri tells Eriksson there would be no problems: he didn’t smoke or drink and was an obsessive trainer. He had only one interest and that was women. ‘Well, I said, who hasn’t?’ Eriksson writes. A beautiful book, ultimately about how to play the most important game of all – life.

Unbroken by Katarina Johnson-Thompson (Macmillan £25, 400pp)

What a wonderful woman is KJT (as she is universally known). She never had it easy: from a working-class background, she was brought up in Liverpool by her single mother and grew to be one of the country’s most successful athletes in the gruelling, all-consuming, lung-busting seven-event heptathlon.

In this marvellous, inspirational autobiography, she opens up about her childhood, her teenage anxiety about body image, her relationships and her devastating injuries. She is a superstar of sport. She is also blessed with a wry sense of humour (her social media biography reads ‘Chronically indecisive so I’ve adopted two surnames and the heptathlon’).

A proud Liverpudlian, she speaks with the same rich Scouse accent as her childhood friend Jodie Comer, the award-winning actress. A special book about a very special woman, who is a testament to the power of resilience.

On The Edge by Martin Keown (Michael Joseph £22, 352pp)

MARTIN KEOWN – uncompromising, aggressive and determined – was one of the most ferocious defenders of the Premier League era, notably for Arsenal and England.

He was known as The Rash because he was all over you when he marked you. As he says, ‘You don’t win anything by being nice’. In fact, he is a thoroughly nice guy, now a highly respected broadcaster and commentator for this newspaper.

But as a player, he could mix it with the best of them. He has always felt an outsider – on the edge, you could say – but always marked out by his relentless commitment.

There are fights a’plenty here, with teammates like Niall Quinn and Kevin Sheedy, and he goes eye-to-eye with Chris Sutton. His famous (or should that be notorious?) duel with the Manchester United striker Ruud van Nistelrooy gets a whole chapter to itself, deservedly so.

Death of a Boxer by Pete Carvill (Biteback £20, 320pp)

BOXING has always aroused conflicting emotions: to some it is barbaric, brutal and should be banned; to others it can be an awe-inspiring display of skill and courage. To many of us, it is both, a sport of searing intensity – a ballet of blood, sweat and shattered dreams.

It is the all-too obvious dangers of boxing that inspired Carvill, a Berlin-based editor and keen amateur fighter, to write this compelling book. After reading about a young Scottish fighter who dies from injuries sustained in the ring, Carvill wants to find out what drives the people who live and breathe this most dangerous of pursuits.

He talks to amateurs, pros, veterans, doctors and more, taking in small fights to championship bouts. His prose lands like a well-timed jab: sharp, devastating and not something you will forget in a hurry.

Finding the Edge by Jimmy Anderson (Blink £25, 336pp)

HERE’S England’s legendary fast bowler coming in off his long run, in full and frank form. He has played 188 Test matches and taken 704 wickets – achievements which will never be matched.

His farewell from international cricket at Lord’s was an extraordinary love-in with packed crowds, guards of honour and almost continual applause. Full of nuggety anecdotes about players and friends, and incidents such as when the Australian captain Michael Clarke tells him, ‘Get ready for a broken f****** arm’.

Or when Shubman Gill, a superstar of the modern era of Indian batting, runs past Anderson having just reached his century. ‘He told me it was time to retire,’ writes Anderson. ‘I got him out two balls later.’

His account of how he was fired by English cricket’s top brass in a dimly lit hotel bar in Manchester is a classic: funny, perceptive and poignant.

Written with the unfeasibly accomplished musician and broadcaster Felix White, this is essential reading.

All That Matters by Sir Chris Hoy (Hodder & Stoughton £22, 240pp)

MAKE sure you’ve got some tissues to hand. Is there anything Chris Hoy can’t do? A brilliant sportsman, an Olympic legend, and possessed of thighs so powerful he could seemingly pedal through brick walls.

Now, he’s a national treasure and much-loved presence in British public life with his punditry, podcast and charity work.

All was well until, in 2023, he felt a pain in his shoulder. But it wasn’t a muscle strain; it was incurable prostate cancer that had spread to his hip, ribs and spine.

This memoir is an emotionally wringing account of what happened next: the punishing treatment, the relationships with his two young children, and his love for wife Sarra, who we later discover has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

As he writes, ‘Cancer was an uninvited guest and now it stays with us. I can’t chase it away but I can choose how I approach each day.’ We don’t have many heroes these days: thank heavens for Sir Chris Hoy.

Trials and Tribulations by Susie Chan (Bloomsbury Sport, £18.99 256pp)

THE achievements of Susie Chan were new to me, and more’s the pity. She is a badass icon of endurance running and a single mother with a rather remarkable backstory.

A one-time party girl, she was forced to rethink her life in her 30s when she discovered her husband had taken money from her credit cards and loans out against their house to pay off his gambling debts.

Her brother invited her to take part in a half-marathon and that was that. Now she has completed the jaw-dropping Marathon des Sables in the Saharan dunes of Morocco, all 160 miles of it, more often than any other British woman.

From Death Valley to the South Downs, Chan is an infectiously enthusiastic guide, charming and wholly relatable.

This fabulous book is a footsore, sunburned love letter to a sport that breaks you down and builds you up like no other pursuit can.

A joy to read. Now, where are my running shoes . . .

Obsessed by Johnny Sexton with Peter O’Reilly (Penguin Sandycove £25, 432pp)

THE legendary Ireland fly-half and playmaker is clearly one of the most competitive men on the planet. As you would expect from someone who has 118 caps for Ireland, two tours with the British & Irish Lions, a world player of the year award and two grand slams.

Ferociously driven, and not one to forget a grudge, this riveting memoir is a fascinating portrait of a man always at war. ‘It’s one of the themes of this book,’ he writes. ‘Conflict with coaches, opponents, teammates and the odd schoolteacher.’

He can’t forget Ronan O’Gara, another great Irish No 10, telling him ‘You’re useless, a nobody.’ Sexton was a master tactician on the field, but was never afraid to mix it.

His feud with the New Zealand centre Rieko Ioane reached its highpoint after Ireland’s pulsating last-minute loss to the All Blacks in the World Cup quarter-final

last year.

At the final whistle, Ioane’s fond farewell was, ‘Don’t miss your flight tomorrow. Enjoy your retirement, you c***.’

Candid, frank and brilliantly written, this is a must for any rugby lover.

Pressure by Geir Jordet (New River £25, 288pp)

Cast your mind back to a pleasant July afternoon in Dusseldorf this year. It is the quarter-finals of the European Championships and England are playing Switzerland.

The game has gone to penalties, and any England supporter dreads what is going to happen next. England’s record in the 12-yard shoot-out has not been good. But this time it is different: five perfect penalties for the first time. Easy.

This book tells you how it happened. Jordet, a Norwegian sports academic, worked with then England manager Gareth Southgate, and this is the ultimate sports book on how to hold your nerve under supreme stress. It explains how all games are won or lost in the mind. This is not a niche book: there is pressure in the boardroom, the office, the bedroom. Here’s how to deal with it.