Ted Lasso · Season 2, Episode 6, "The Signal"
Beard's football and politics book: Football Against the Enemy
Coach Beard (Brendan Hunt)
Ted Lasso · S2 E6Sleuthed by @shelfsleuth
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What it tells you
Beard reads Simon Kuper's tour of football and politics in The Signal. Book Riot and the book's own Wikipedia page both put it in that episode. Americans know it as Soccer Against the Enemy, which Beard would consider a downgrade.
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The book
Football Against the Enemy
Simon Kuper · 1994 · nonfiction
Kuper traveled through more than twenty countries for the 1994 book, asking how the game shapes nations and their governments. It won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year. Beard reads the geopolitics of the sport for fun, so he has never once lost an argument at a pub quiz.
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Sleuthed by @shelfsleuth · 2026-10-17
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Paused Tuesdays
One still, one stack, every Tuesday morning.
Also in Ted Lasso
All 33 books
Ted's welcome basket: The Ultimate Cockney Geezer's Guide to Rhyming SlangS1 E1
Beard's other flight book: Coaching Soccer For DummiesS1 E1
Beard's flight reading: Inverting the PyramidS1 E1
Ted's plane book: The Dharma BumsS1 E1
Beard's Bob Paisley biography: Quiet GeniusS1 E3
Robbie's gift from Ted: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar ChildrenS1 E3
Sam's gift from Ted: Ender's GameS1 E3
Jamie's gift from Ted: The Beautiful and DamnedS1 E3
Roy's assigned reading: A Wrinkle in TimeS1 E3
Beard's desk manual: The Arco Book of Soccer Techniques and TacticsS1 E6
Beard's sports psychology read: The GreatestS2 E1
Beard's Arsenal memoir: Fever PitchS2 E5We may earn a commission when you buy through these links. Learn more ›