Win or Else: Soviet Football in Moscow and Beyond, 1921–1985

Larry E. Holmes' book Win or Else explores the Soviet football culture, which disregarded official ideological and political imperatives and blurred the lines between socialism and capitalism. The book focuses on the provincial Kirov team Dinamo from 1979 to 1985, when the club experienced both its worst and best seasons. It reveals the foundations of Soviet sports culture and the hazards teams faced in victory and loss.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 230 pages
Publication date: 30 April 2024
Publisher: Indiana University Press

Larry E. Holmes' book "Win or Else" explores the Soviet football culture, which often disregarded official ideological and political imperatives and blurred the lines between socialism and capitalism. In the early 1920s, the Soviet press criticized football as a bourgeois sport, but it later became the most popular spectator sport in the USSR, with complex bureaucracies, a strong international presence, and a belief that victory on the field was a victory of Soviet supremacy. Holmes focuses his study on the provincial Kirov team Dinamo from 1979 to 1985, a period when the club experienced both its worst and its best. Faced with a dismal 1979 season, the team's administrators and regional authorities had two options: obey Moscow's edict to reduce expenditures on professional sports or seek out new funding sources to fill out a team of champions. Drawing on rich archival materials, newspapers, and interviews with former players, "Win or Else" reveals the foundations of Soviet sports culture and the hazards that teams faced in victory and in loss.

Weight: 348g
Dimension: 152 x 229 x 17 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780253069634