One of the lesser-noted questions of this year’s tumultuous general election was what is going to be done about football. Understandably, given the focus that has been heaped on the cash going towards the London Olympic Games in 2012, there has been little mention of football’s political background since the coalition came into power.

However, it will be interesting to see whether Labour’s plans to have a standing committee on issues in football including ticket pricing, first mooted in 1997 and cynically picked back up in the run up to the election, will be re-ignited. What is certain is that football is, and always has been, an incredibly political entity as Simon Kuper perfectly illustrates in this travelogue.

First published in 1994, this volume reads as separate tales in a larger story, namely one that puts football at the heart of both unity and greed in most of the major political struggles of the world. Kuper himself is Ugandan and has written for various publications including the Financial Times.

Given the widespread political upheaval of the times – including the break up of the Soviet Union and apartheid in South Africa – Kuper’s timing, in retrospect, was excellent. As such, we get an insight into Nelson Mandela’s views on football (he’s a card carrying Orlando Pirates fan, as is Bishop Desmond Tutu, apparently), the real meaning of flair football to Brazilians from 1970 captain Carlos Alberto Parrieira and views on the Old Firm derby from Irish political stalwarts.

But this is far from a collection of interviews. Kuper has weaved a strong narrative of mistrust within ­– and overriding passion for – football the globe over throughout. Perhaps the most touching and engaging chapter is on the erection of the Berlin Wall and how fans of Hertha Berlin were left unable to attend their team’s matches, firstly reduced to listening on matchdays through the wall and then later receiving reports through the top secret Hertha Society when the matches were moved across town. The stories of passion and bravery shown by the citizens of East Berlin to see good football is genuinely touching, tales of risking lives to attend quality matches in the Czech Republic or Poland and Stasi files listing tracked match attendances – intelligence records of astonishing detail.

Kuper catches the notion that even when matches are fixed and some of the crowd are aware of it, the sport can still be a catalyst for change. A must for fans who enjoy putting football in context or just a good tale.

Now Mr Cameron, about those ticket prices…