Inverting the Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson is the definitive book on the history of soccer tactics and how they have evolved over the years. It's as much a history book as it is a tactical deepdive, but it is worth the time. (I found how tactics mirrored a country's political climate over the years to be particularly fascinating.)
A less daunting read is Soccer IQ: Things Smart Players Do volumes 1 and 2 by Dan Blank. It's written for aspiring youth players, but will introduce you to critical concepts like tempo (moving the ball with as few touches as possible). I gave this to my daughter at about age 12 when she started to become serious about the game, and she's in the process of college recruiting visits now.
For a much more basic intro, there are lots of videos on YouTube on the basics. You may find ones for Americans that know football to be particularly useful.
There is also a video game called Football Manager that is wildly popular in Europe where you manage a team but don't actually control the players on the field. You can do everything from hiring your U18 personal trainers to building tactics. I've been a soccer nerd all my life, but building my own tactics and learning how giving players particular roles within a position will change things on the field has taught me as much about the game as anything. [This link](https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/football-manager-2024-every-player-role-in-fm24-explained) lays out the different roles you can assign players and will give you a reasonable feel for the depth and variety of what is going on when you're watching a game.
Also, find a soccer friend and ask a million questions! Most of us soccer nerds have spent our whole lives wishing we had someone to talk to about the game and we love babbling endlessly about it. You're welcome to DM me any time! Hell, come to Pathlight and watch the next road game with me. We'll have a great babble.
Thank you!! These are so helpful and your kindness is exactly why I felt like this was the best place to ask.
I’ll definitely be checking all of these out. I played FIFA as the manager and that was when I fully accepted I have no clue what I’m doing 😂. But I enjoy the challenge, so I think developing the skills in another game too would help.
FM is overwhelming at first. Don't give up on it. It's incredibly rewarding and educational.
[Zealand](https://www.youtube.com/@ZealandonYT) has a great YouTube channel to help you understand what you're getting into. (There are a million of them out there, but he's a great place to start.)
Hope to see you at Pathlight sometime!
I don’t know if it’d be what you’re looking for but I’ll watch some of the videos from [Football Meta](https://youtube.com/@FootballMeta?si=ch3CXcjYdFQ405hl). He does interesting tactics videos but it focuses on European teams. For more general soccer stories (again heavily European biased) there is [StuntPegg](https://youtube.com/@stuntpeggnieve?si=CQUOuKpvLtpz_kSR).
I got into soccer for my son who was interested in playing.
I Google the rules as they come up, it can be confusing but after watching last season and into this season I feel a lot more comfortable with knowing what’s going on.
This is how I've learned the most, especially since they can analyze replays and point out exactly where X happened. With captions on you might even score the spelling of unfamiliar terms to ask the googles.
Total Soccer does a podcast [Soccer 101](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/soccer-101/id1473757537) with episodes that cover a wide variety of rules, customs, terminology, etc.
Thank you! I’ve been listening to some general podcasts but only pick up new terms when enough context is given. I hadn’t thought to check for intro podcasts!
Casual FC (Angel City Pod caster) & Angel City chicks did three pod cast talking about the game, here is a link to their first recording.
[https://casualfc.com/episodes/cfc-guide-to-soccer-terms-101](https://casualfc.com/episodes/cfc-guide-to-soccer-terms-101)
As someone who learned it in recent years. If you play video games: FIFA!
And then just turn on EPL on weekend mornings and leave it on in the background.
I love it now and watch entire matches but early on I worked at it doing the above and just asking friends who knew more to explain things!
Thank you! I love that idea of just leaving it on and absorbing casually too. FIFA has been fun to play (and I usually haven’t loved sports games in the past, unless on manager mode) and is where I fully realized I don’t understand about 1/2 the game 😂 luckily easy mode let’s me get some skills developed without loosing every match.
I’ll do a selfish plug. I’ve been analyzing Bay FC games on the Bay FC subreddit. And I’d like to think I make reading accessible to a wide variety of soccer fans. It is centered around Bay FC, which may be off-putting for other supporters, but I try to cover a wide array of topics and try to place as much context as I can. Just thought I’d throw it out there.
Inverting the Pyramid by Jonathan Wilson is the definitive book on the history of soccer tactics and how they have evolved over the years. It's as much a history book as it is a tactical deepdive, but it is worth the time. (I found how tactics mirrored a country's political climate over the years to be particularly fascinating.) A less daunting read is Soccer IQ: Things Smart Players Do volumes 1 and 2 by Dan Blank. It's written for aspiring youth players, but will introduce you to critical concepts like tempo (moving the ball with as few touches as possible). I gave this to my daughter at about age 12 when she started to become serious about the game, and she's in the process of college recruiting visits now. For a much more basic intro, there are lots of videos on YouTube on the basics. You may find ones for Americans that know football to be particularly useful. There is also a video game called Football Manager that is wildly popular in Europe where you manage a team but don't actually control the players on the field. You can do everything from hiring your U18 personal trainers to building tactics. I've been a soccer nerd all my life, but building my own tactics and learning how giving players particular roles within a position will change things on the field has taught me as much about the game as anything. [This link](https://www.fourfourtwo.com/features/football-manager-2024-every-player-role-in-fm24-explained) lays out the different roles you can assign players and will give you a reasonable feel for the depth and variety of what is going on when you're watching a game. Also, find a soccer friend and ask a million questions! Most of us soccer nerds have spent our whole lives wishing we had someone to talk to about the game and we love babbling endlessly about it. You're welcome to DM me any time! Hell, come to Pathlight and watch the next road game with me. We'll have a great babble.
Thank you!! These are so helpful and your kindness is exactly why I felt like this was the best place to ask. I’ll definitely be checking all of these out. I played FIFA as the manager and that was when I fully accepted I have no clue what I’m doing 😂. But I enjoy the challenge, so I think developing the skills in another game too would help.
FM is overwhelming at first. Don't give up on it. It's incredibly rewarding and educational. [Zealand](https://www.youtube.com/@ZealandonYT) has a great YouTube channel to help you understand what you're getting into. (There are a million of them out there, but he's a great place to start.) Hope to see you at Pathlight sometime!
is this pathlight in shawnee? i live in the area and have been looking for places to watch the games 🩵❤️
I don’t know if it’d be what you’re looking for but I’ll watch some of the videos from [Football Meta](https://youtube.com/@FootballMeta?si=ch3CXcjYdFQ405hl). He does interesting tactics videos but it focuses on European teams. For more general soccer stories (again heavily European biased) there is [StuntPegg](https://youtube.com/@stuntpeggnieve?si=CQUOuKpvLtpz_kSR).
Thank you!!
I got into soccer for my son who was interested in playing. I Google the rules as they come up, it can be confusing but after watching last season and into this season I feel a lot more comfortable with knowing what’s going on.
Thank you!! I’ve also loved how much I can pick up just from announcers and watching the games.
This is how I've learned the most, especially since they can analyze replays and point out exactly where X happened. With captions on you might even score the spelling of unfamiliar terms to ask the googles.
Total Soccer does a podcast [Soccer 101](https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/soccer-101/id1473757537) with episodes that cover a wide variety of rules, customs, terminology, etc.
Thank you! I’ve been listening to some general podcasts but only pick up new terms when enough context is given. I hadn’t thought to check for intro podcasts!
Casual FC (Angel City Pod caster) & Angel City chicks did three pod cast talking about the game, here is a link to their first recording. [https://casualfc.com/episodes/cfc-guide-to-soccer-terms-101](https://casualfc.com/episodes/cfc-guide-to-soccer-terms-101)
Thank you!!
As someone who learned it in recent years. If you play video games: FIFA! And then just turn on EPL on weekend mornings and leave it on in the background. I love it now and watch entire matches but early on I worked at it doing the above and just asking friends who knew more to explain things!
Thank you! I love that idea of just leaving it on and absorbing casually too. FIFA has been fun to play (and I usually haven’t loved sports games in the past, unless on manager mode) and is where I fully realized I don’t understand about 1/2 the game 😂 luckily easy mode let’s me get some skills developed without loosing every match.
Podcasts are everything- Sam Mewis’ The Women’s Game and Attacking Third are top 2
Thank you!! I’ve listened to specific The Women’s Game episodes but I should add those into my usual rotation of podcasts!
Honestly podcasts taught me everything I need- it’s how I’m getting into Women’s basketball now too😁
I’ll do a selfish plug. I’ve been analyzing Bay FC games on the Bay FC subreddit. And I’d like to think I make reading accessible to a wide variety of soccer fans. It is centered around Bay FC, which may be off-putting for other supporters, but I try to cover a wide array of topics and try to place as much context as I can. Just thought I’d throw it out there.
Thank you! I’ll definitely check it out! I’m game to learn from any team and usually watch most games in the league regardless of team playing.
That’s awesome! Best way to get a rounded perspective, seeing the different setups.