What do mathematics and football have in common?
"A relationship that will surprise the unsuspecting and reassure the suspicious."
In an era where professional football is not just a matter of talent, luck, and billions of dollars, science is recognized as the most useful "tool" for the performance of teams and players.
How do the big teams play? What tactics do famous players follow?
Where is the beauty of "total football" hidden?
The roots of total football lie outside of football. Its charm is hidden in architecture, geometry, and the idea of the great mathematician Henri Poincaré about mutable space.
From the aerodynamics of the ball, the role of shoes in curved shots, the psychology of players during penalty shootouts, the analytical measurements, and the monitoring of indicators related to the ergophysiology of players, to the exhaustive mathematical analysis of the possibilities offered by game systems, coaches have acquired an ever-expanding knowledge of the game's capabilities. A knowledge to which journalists and fans do not have access, yet they judge both the game and the players in an absolute manner.
From cafes to Parliament, everyone likes to talk about football. Everyone has an opinion and wants to explain everything. Bray's book "unlocks" the secrets of the most popular game. In the background, it reveals the danger inherent in the element that can turn science into quackery and football into war: absoluteness. At the same time, it allows us to imagine the inscription that could be outside the stadiums of tomorrow: "Let no one ignorant of geometry enter." The same that was outside Plato's academy.