A journey with the world’s most extreme football fans

You can see them, but you don’t know them. In his book ‘Among the Ultras’, James tells the story of how the movement began and how it grew to become the global phenomenon that now dominates the stadiums from the Balkans and Buenos Aires. In this event, Pieter van Os will discuss with Montague how ultras have grown into a fiercely political movement, embracing extremes on both the left and right; fighting against the commercialisation of football and society – and against the attempts to control them by the authorities, who both covet and fear their power.

About the speakers

James Montague is an award-winning journalist who writes about football, culture and politics across the globe. He has reported from over 65 countries for the New York Times, World Soccer and the Bleacher Report, amongst others. He also features regularly on the BBC World Service’s World Football podcast. His previous books are ‘When Friday Comes: Football in the War Zone’ and ‘Thirty-One Nil: On the Road with Football’s Outsiders’, which won Football Book of the Year at the 2015 British Sports Book of the Year Awards. Sports Illustrated described him as ‘the Indiana Jones of soccer writing’.

Pieter van Os is a Dutch writer and journalist (NRC Handelsblad, De Groene Amsterdammer, Hard Gras) who regularly writes about topics at the intersection of football and politics. He published, among other things, a book about the American years of Johan Cruijff and Wij begrijpen elkaar uitstekend, about his years as a parliamentary reporter for NRC. His book Liever dier dan mens, a history of Central Europe, is the only book ever to be awarded both the Brusse Prijs for the best journalistic book and the Libris Geschiedenis Prijs.