Dominic Hougham is a soccer writer whose work covers the World Cup, Italian club soccer, and the rivalry between Arsenal and Manchester United. His articles have appeared in These Football Times and The Football Pink. His first book, Fifty Great World Cup Matches …and Why You Should Watch Them!, grew from his interest in the tournament and uses individual games to explain a larger international history.
His second book, Veni, Vidi, Vici: When Italian Football Ruled Europe, focuses on the late 1980s and 1990s. The 2026 publication The Greatest Rivalry turns to English soccer during the overlapping tenures of Arsène Wenger and Alex Ferguson. Across these subjects, Hougham examines notable games alongside the teams, managers, players, and circumstances that made them significant beyond their final scores.
Dominic Hougham Books
| Book | Year | Amazon |
|---|---|---|
| Fifty Great World Cup Matches | 2024 | Description / Buy at Amazon |
| The Greatest Rivalry | 2026 | Description / Buy at Amazon |
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Pitch Publishing describes Hougham as a regular contributor to These Football Times and notes his podcast appearances discussing Italian soccer. His interest includes the period when Serie A attracted leading international players and reached British audiences through Channel 4. That broadcasting connection forms part of his account of how Italian clubs acquired a following outside Italy as their teams competed successfully in Europe.
The books use different organizing structures. Fifty Great World Cup Matches selects games from tournaments between 1974 and 2022, explaining their context and legacy. Veni, Vidi, Vici follows a period of dominance across several clubs, rather than treating one team as representative of an entire league. The Greatest Rivalry concentrates on nine seasons of repeated competition between two English clubs and the personal confrontations associated with that contest.
Soccer Books
Fifty Great World Cup Matches: ... and Why You Should Watch Them!: Hougham examines fifty World Cup games from West Germany in 1974 through Qatar in 2022. Each account explains the circumstances leading into the match, its action and personalities, and its place in the tournament’s continuing history. The selections provide a route into changing teams, memorable performances, and controversies while showing why particular games remain worth revisiting. Published in 2024.
The Greatest Rivalry: Arsenal, Manchester United and the Battle that Defined an Era: This history revisits nine seasons of competition between Arsenal and Manchester United under Wenger and Ferguson. Hougham follows title contests, cup matches, and confrontations involving players such as Patrick Vieira, Roy Keane, Martin Keown, and Ruud van Nistelrooy. Recollections and contemporary quotations connect famous incidents with a rivalry that helped define the Premier League’s late 1990s and early 2000s. Published in 2026.
Veni, Vidi, Vici: When Italian Football Ruled Europe: Hougham follows Italian soccer’s European prominence in the late 1980s and 1990s. The account brings together Maradona’s Napoli, Milan’s Dutch stars, Inter’s German players, and the achievements of clubs beyond the traditional giants. It also considers Paul Gascoigne at Lazio, Channel 4’s coverage, Italy’s World Cup experiences, and the conditions that eventually ended the period of dominance. Published in 2025.
The Italian story includes clubs such as Sampdoria, Parma, Torino, Roma, and Fiorentina alongside Milan, Inter, Juventus, and Napoli. Hougham considers the movement of international talent into Serie A and the impact of those players on domestic and European competition. The closing chapters address the decline of that dominance and difficulties experienced by several clubs, giving the era a beginning and an end rather than presenting it only through its most celebrated victories.