RADICALISED BY FIFA – A FIERCE, FUNNY, AND UNFLINCHING MEMOIR OF FOOTBALL, HISTORY AND FEMINISM

From a Leicestershire farm to the global politics of football—one woman’s fight for justice in sport and beyond

SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA, June 30, 2025 /EINPresswire.com/ -- In Radicalised by FIFA – Football, History and Feminism, English academic Professor Jean Williams delivers a bold and blistering memoir that blends personal experience, political commentary, and institutional critique.

Raised on a farm in rural Leicestershire in a family where animals outnumbered luxuries, Williams grew up intent on pursuing gender equity—before that term became de rigueur—and a love of sport.

Her story follows the arc of a girl who refused to sit quietly on the sidelines, becoming both a fierce advocate for women in sport and a critic of sport’s organisational behemoths such as FIFA.

“I didn’t set out to be radical,” she writes. “FIFA made me that way.”

With sharp humour and intellectual clarity, Radicalised by FIFA explores how football is both a mirror of society and a battlefield for equality. Whether reliving childhood humiliations, dissecting the tokenism of sports policy, or reflecting on the transformative moments of the Women’s World Cup, Williams refuses to look away from the hard truths.

Key themes, which are presented through the prism of seven Women’s World Cups starting with ‘The Barbie World Cup’ in the USA in 1999, include:

• The evolution of women’s football, from grassroots obscurity to global spectacle
• The hidden power structures within international sport, and FIFA’s role in shaping them
• The personal toll of speaking up in male-dominated institutions
• The intersections between gender, class, and access in both sport and education
• The transformative role of mentors, resistance, and community
• The need for ethical accountability in the future of sport.

This is not your standard sports memoir. It’s a story of growing up, waking up, and speaking up—and it will resonate with anyone who’s ever felt shut out, underestimated, or fired up by injustice.

Radicalised by FIFA – Football, History and Feminism is available from July 3 via good bookstores worldwide and online retailers as a paperback and an e-book.

ENDS

Further information:
Contact Fair Play Publishing (AEST), or Professor Jean Williams directly (GMT), +44 7977 119176

Amy Mac
Fair Play Publishing
+61 478 548 520
email us here
Visit us on social media:
LinkedIn
Instagram
Facebook
X

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.