Synopses & Reviews
The gripping story of a group of boys discovered in what may be the largest talent search in sports history.
Over the past decade, an audacious program called Football Dreams has held tryouts for millions of 13-year-old boys across Africa looking for soccer’s next superstars. Led by the Spanish scout who helped launch Lionel Messi’s career at Barcelona and funded by the desert kingdom of Qatar, the program has chosen a handful of boys each year to train to become professionals — a process over a thousand times more selective than getting into Harvard.
In The Away Game, reporter Sebastian Abbot follows a small group of the boys as they are discovered on dirt fields across Africa, join the glittering academy in Doha where they train, and compete for the chance to gain fame and fortune at Europe’s top clubs. We meet Diawandou, a skilled Senegalese defender whose composure makes him a natural leader on the field; Hamza, a midfielder from Ghana with great talent but a mercurial personality to match; Ibrahima, a towering striker who scores goals by the bucketload; Serigne Mbaye, who glides by players effortlessly but happens to be deaf; and Bernard, often the smallest kid on the field but a sublime playmaker who invites constant comparison to Messi.
Abbot masterfully weaves together the dramatic story of the boys’ journey with an exploration of the art and science of trying to spot talent at such a young age. As in so many other sports, data analytics in soccer have expanded in the wake of Moneyball, with scouts employing more sophisticated metrics like "expected goals" and tracking data to judge players. But, as The Away Game chronicles, soccer genius depends more on intangible qualities like "game intelligence" than on easily quantifiable ones.
Richly reported and deeply moving, The Away Game is set against the geopolitical backdrop of Qatar’s rise from an impoverished patch of desert to an immensely rich nation determined to buy a place on the international stage. It is an unforgettable story of the joy and pain these talented African boys experience as they chase their dreams in a dizzying world of rich Arab sheikhs, money-hungry agents, and soccer-mad European fans.
Review
“Whether you’re a soccer fan or not, you will find everything you could possibly want — joy, heartbreak, inspiration — between these covers. The Away Game is a story of global ambition, of poverty, of passion, and of the beauty of the beautiful game. You will learn about the art of identifying future superstars, but most of all you will be taken on an unforgettable journey with an unforgettable group of boys." Jonathan Mahler, author of Ladies and Gentlemen, the Bronx Is Burning
Review
"Abbot’s narrative features vivid profiles, engrossing play-by-play, and a sobering lesson: bad breaks and cold business calculations sometimes trump ability in the making of champions." Publishers Weekly
Review
"Gripping... An important book to ponder as the world’s favorite game grows ever more global." Booklist
Review
"[The Away Game] follows the fortunes of three young African players who participated in the Qatari [Football Dreams] program and for whom soccer represented a ticket out of poverty....An excellent introduction to this shady world." Nicolas van de Walle, Foreign Affairs
About the Author
Sebastian Abbot worked for the Associated Press in Cairo and Islamabad, where he was bureau chief. He holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from Princeton University and a master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government. He lives in New York.