News
World Cup fever leads to increased sales for football books
18 Jun 2010
The excitement surrounding the World Cup in South Africa has seen the sales of football books increase dramatically with Liverpool and Spain striker Fernando Torres' memoir, El Niño, currently the bestselling football memoir in the UK.
Bestselling memoirs of yesteryear have also been climbing the charts. Sales of Sir Bobby Charlton's 2008-published My England Years have jumped 115% over the past four weeks, while sales of the memoirs of Liverpool and England stars Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher have also been on the up. Steven Gerrard’s My Autobiography sold 168 copies last week, up from 101 four weeks ago, while sales of the Jamie Carragher’s Carra have jumped 30% in recent weeks. Even football stars not at the World Cup have received a boost: Manchester United's Welsh superstar Ryan Giggs' memoir, Giggs: The Autobiography has enjoyed a 45% boom over the same four-week time frame.
However, the bestselling World Cup book remains the 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Official Book which sold 2,986 copies last week.
In the children's market, Bronagh Woods' 2010 FIFA World Cup South Africa Activity Book is the current football favourite for children.
Read the full story in The Bookseller.
Why not take advantage of this football-inspired literature to encourage your students to read with ideas from the National Literacy Trust’s World Cup toolkit? It includes fun ideas and activities for teachers and librarians and you can download it free of charge.
