"In looking into the lives of individual players, club officials and ordinary fans during this tumultuous period Simon Kuper has skilfully pieced together an alternative account of World War II, one seen through the lens of football. He also widens the scope to take in England, France and Germany, and in depicting a continent obsessed with football during war-time - on the day Germany invaded the Soviet Union, ninety thousand spectators were in place for the kick-off of the German league final in Berlin - he challenges accepted notions of the war in occupied Europe."--BOOK JACKET.