About Mapping Football’s Future: How Technology, Data and Finance Are Transforming the Beautiful Game
Football is changing faster than ever. This book explains who is driving that change and what it means for the future of the beautiful game.
As the World Cup expands, artificial intelligence enters the training ground, clubs become global media brands, and fans are turned into customers, football is moving into a new era.
The game is bigger, richer and more powerful than at any point in its history.
But where is it heading?
Mapping Football’s Future: How Technology, Data and Finance Are Transforming the Beautiful Game explores the forces reshaping football — from technology, tactics and data to ownership, finance, globalisation, women’s football, fan culture and the future of major tournaments.
This is a book about the future of the game itself, not one club, one league,one season, or even one World Cup.
Inside, you’ll discover:
How AI, analytics and player data are transforming modern football
Why money, ownership and global finance now shape the game as much as tactics
What the expanded World Cup reveals about football’s commercial future
How fans are being targeted, personalised and monetised in the attention economy
Why women’s football and Asia could become major forces in the next phase of global growth
How new rules, technologies and competitions may change the way football is played and watched
What football must protect if it wants to remain the beautiful game
Perfect for football fans who want to understand the game beyond the headlines, Mapping Football’s Future is an ideal read for anyone interested in where football is going next.
Whether you’re buying for yourself or as a gift for a football-obsessed reader, this book offers a timely, thought-provoking look at the sport’s next decade.
The World Cup will show us where football is going. This book explains how we got here — and what comes next.
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Learn more about the writer. Visit the Author’s Website.
Author Bio:
Robin Smith is the author of Mapping Football’s Future, a sharp, systems-led exploration of where the beautiful game is heading next.
A lifelong Tottenham Hotspur supporter, futurist, CISO, and cyber expert based in the UK, Robin brings a rare perspective to football writing. He does not approach the game as an ex-player, pundit, or celebrity insider, but as a serious fan and systems thinker, examining football as a living network shaped by technology, risk, money, governance, culture, institutions, and the people who love it.
First published in 2008, Robin has written extensively on technology, commerce, future scenarios, and the social consequences of innovation. His work includes the Machina Trilogy, a forthcoming film adaptation, and his next book on the Mirror Machines and technology’s role in a communitarian revolution.
Mapping Football’s Future is written for serious fans, coaches, journalists, academics, football thinkers, and curious supporters who want a clearer way to understand the sport’s next chapter.
Robin is available for podcasts, panels, talks, and media interviews on football’s accelerating future and why it matters now.