The best football books for kids include Football School Season 2, Kane Rules, Mbappe Rules, Bad United: Just for Kicks and Barry Loser is the Best at Football.

For all those children who are football fans, LoveReading4Kids has assembled a formidable line-up of football related books that will boost a love of reading, as well as a love of the beautiful game itself.

Tom Palmer, a recent Guest Editor on LR4K and best-selling author, told us that reading about football turned him into a reader. He loved (still loves!) football and devoured comics, magazines, newspapers and books about the game. He has gone on to write a number of books about football including his Defenders series, that cleverly mixes ghost stories and football, and uses past events to throw light on our world. 

If you like football, you’ll love the Football School series of books by Alex Bellos, Ben Lytttleton and Spike Gerrell. The series includes eleven bestselling books and a definitive, comprehensive and hugely entertaining The Football School Encyclopedia which stays true to their philosophy of trying to make sense of the world through football. Discover the origins of the game, the rules, learn about the different leagues around the world and facts about famous players. The final chapter really proves their point that football is a great starting point for learning, with ten sections examining football through ten different lenses from numbers, language, technology, the media and a look into the future. It almost goes without saying that throughout the book there is an equal focus on women’s football and a good balance of diverse world coverage.

The success of the Lionesses has inspired so many more girls to take up the sport, and there are some great books that shine a spotlight on women and girls playing football. For our youngest footy fanatics The Footballing Fairy by Elli Woollard and Irina Avgustinovich definitely finds the back of the net. Femi the Fairy is much more interested in playing football than granting fairy wishes in this fun rhyming story.  

Published by Barrington Stoke and perfect for reluctant and dyslexic readers of 9+, Seeing Red is the latest novel from Eve Ainsworth and her third book about the Lightmoor Lionesses. Football used to be a way of coping with problems at home for Amelia but now her dad has left, and her mum is struggling to cope, Amelia finds she is battling problems on and off the pitch. "Seeing Red is brilliant at conjuring how difficult it can be to share one’s problems, and at showing how a problem shared really is a problem halved." And, in Kicking Off, Eve Ainsworth explores the roots of the women's game in a fascinating and inspiring true story of the trailblazing female football team formed by workers in a WWI munitions factory. The Dick, Kerr Ladies F.C., founded in Preston Lancashire, was one of the earliest known women's association football teams in England. The women had joined the company in 1914 to help manufacture ammunition for the war - and made sporting history with their football success, set against the backdrop of the Suffragette movement and enormous social change. 

Mitch Johnson won the Branford Boase Award with his compelling debut, Kick. Chair of the Judges, our own expert reviewer, Julia Eccleshare said: “Kick is an adventure story that connects UK readers with a boy living a completely different and tough life halfway across the world; it is a book full of humour and heart. At a time when many children’s books seem to be looking inward, Mitch Johnson has written a book about a global issue, encouraging children to think about the way the world works, and even how they could affect change." 

Leah Williamson plays as a defender for Arsenal and the Lionesses, England Women's Football team. In the summer of 2022 Leah captained the Lionesses to victory in the UEFA Women's Euro 2022. Her bestselling time-twisting adventure series The Wonder Team now has five books to play for.

Sweet Cherry's Football Rising Stars dives into the incredible journeys of many of the world's best young players. Featuring fresh talents from England, France, Spain, Canada and the USA, the series covers their unique rise from playing football in the park to performing in front of capacity crowds on the biggest stage and in the biggest leagues. And now Every Cherry has new adaptations of Football Rising Stars featuring illustrations, sensory components and glossary descriptions to accompany the text to aid in reading comprehension and accessibility. Their shorter versions of the text allow for the same great stories to be delivered in a condensed but still equally fun and entertaining edition of these Football Rising Stars' books.

Scroll down for more fun chapter books, inspiring stories and books full of fascinating footy facts.

Game on.

For more ideas for sports mad kids check out:

The Best Children's Books for Kids Who Love Sport

30+ Middle Grade Fiction Reads for Sporty Kids

Questions we get asked

Are there books about women's football for children?

Yes: Ella Toone, Megan Rapinoe and Football Is for Everyone.

Is there a football book for young children?

Yes: Let's Play Football! and The Footballing Fairy.