ERASE UNA VEZ EL FUTBOL

There was a time of soccer filled with tragic heroes and fleeting careers, like the flight of a butterfly. A time when matches were decided by the flip of a coin and champions took the field with the solemnity of someone entering a factory. It was the soccer of Paolo Rossi, Roberto Baggio, and George Best, of Bearzot’s pipe, Sacchi’s genius, and Trapattoni’s impossible press conferences. Gianni Mura (1945–2020) was not just a reporter; he was the ethical and literary conscience of Italian sports. A correspondent for La Repubblica for over 40 years, he also wrote about soccer and cycling for outlets such as La Gazzetta dello Sport. He was a descendant of that line of intellectuals who, like Manuel Vázquez Montalbán, knew how to decipher a country’s identity through a soccer ball; Mura elevated sports reporting to the realm of high literature. For him, soccer was not an industry, but a realm brimming with irony, rage, and profound humanity. In these pages, Mura’s gaze transforms reality: Nereo Rocco becomes a Maigret-like detective in search of success, Maradona ceases to be a player and becomes an entire city, and Michel Platini reveals himself as a chansonnier unable to stop singing. Once Upon a Time in Soccer is the literary testament of an author who knew how to write about sports with the depth of a philosopher and the simplicity of a master. These chronicles remind us that, even though “modern soccer” has become so commercialized, we will always have the refuge of a good text to recapture the essence of a game that once belonged to all of us.