Jonathan Wilson
Biography
Jonathan Wilson is a writer and broadcaster. He has published a novel and twelve non-fiction books about football including a history of tactics, Inverting the Pyramid; a history of the Argentinian game, Angels With Dirty Faces; a history of Hungarian football between 1916 and 56, The Names Heard Long Ago; and a biography of Jack and Bobby Charlton, Two Brothers.
He founded and edits the football quarterly The Blizzard, is a columnist for the Guardian and World Soccer, writes for Unherd. He has been named FSA Football Writer of the Year a record four times.
A regular on the Football Weekly podcast, Wilson is also co-host of It Was What It Was: the Football History Podcast and was also one of gang of seven who founded Libero podcast. He has given lectures and spoken at conferences in the UK, US, Germany, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Turkey and Hungary.
Latest News
A new series of snippets of football history from around the world, Wilson's World: Postcards from the Past, has launched on Substack and YouTube. Early clips have featured the first ever international, played in Glasgow in 1872; the mural celebrating Tony Yeboah in Frankfurt; the career of Allan Simonsen from Copenhagen; and the FAI offices in Dublin where Jack Charlton manager was appointed Ireland manager in chaotic circumstances. Subscribe now!
Jonathan Wilson's new history of the World Cup will be released in the UK on September 4, but is available for order now. The historian Tom Holland described it as "epic in scope, awesomely rich in detail, and compulsively entertaining", while Duncan Hamilton spoke of "an outstanding book by a truly outstanding writer" and David Kynaston described it as "unfailingly lucid and objective". Order here.
The first episode of an exciting new project has launched on YouTube. Written by Jonathan Wilson and created by Tifo Football, The Entire History of Football begins with a look at the origins of the game, and how a set of laws drawn up in a London pub in 1863 became the basis for the most popular sport in the world. Watch here.
Issue Fifty-Seven of The Blizzard is available now, featuring Uroš Jovičić on Ivica Osim, Neel Shelat on the Bhutanese League, a Liverpool striker who lost a leg and became a stunt diver, punk and football, Brøndby, the importance of heritage, early-modern death records, Ireland's 1982 tour of South America, the influence of empire, the decline of Suwon Samsung Bluewings, Spartak and more. Click here to buy
Jonathan Wilson was named Football Supporters Association football writer of the year for 2024. It's the fourth time he's won the award - a huge thanks to all those who voted.
"Football writing has changed enormously [since he first won in 2012]," he said. "It was hard back then but it's even tougher now. It's just cuts after cuts after cuts."
Contact
For all queries, please send an email to infojonawils@gmail.com.
For book enquiries contact David Luxton on david@davidluxtonassociates.co.uk.