Raw Leather

Authoritarian leaders who palm themselves off as men of the people on the podium while corrupt sports officials delight alongside them in their guaranteed immunity; world-cup stadiums that are built by wage-slaves and fall into disrepair after the big event; stars like Neymar who change clubs for astronomic fees – looking at these developments, many fans are of one mind: football is suffering.

An end must be put to this at last, demand Stefan Gmünder and Klaus Zeyringer: Let’s remove our support from this system of compliance and injustice! In their passionate book, the two devotees of the most essential matter of secondary importance in the world are shocked by the state of the football industry. And they make a passionate plea for the sport to be liberated from the hands of those who are using it above all for their personal gain.

»Their book, Raw Leather, is surely a courageous one. It is also a killjoy book for its slender 120 pages precisely and comprehensively summarise just how terrible the situation is.« Daniel Kehlmann, Die Zeit

»A sharp-edged overview of all that is rotten today in commercial football.« DER SPIEGEL-online

»Raw Leather is potentially a massive spoilsport, a comprehensive litany of sins, a round-up of the scandals, the legality aspects, and how they are entwined.« Thomas Andre, Hamburger Abendblatt

»Raw Leather is an exploration of the destruction of this sport through commerce and nepotism. From slavery to corruption to insinuation replete with authoritarian leaders – assembled between two covers: it is shocking. But it also a call to arms: Liberate football!« Augsburger Allgemeine