What were the world's greatest players like when they were your age? Learn how twenty-eight of the top soccer stars of all time grew up and conquered the sport. This exciting book follows twenty-eight of the best men's and women's players from their first childhood encounter with association football - whether at the school gym or a pickup game in a vacant lot - to their first appearance in a top-division match or their first international cap. For every one of them, it was a journey with its share of both tragedy and triumph. Did you know that . . . . . . as a boy, Pele practiced with a newspaper-stuffed sock or a grapefruit, because he couldn't afford a proper football? . . . Mia Hamm discovered the sport of soccer as a toddler in Florence, Italy, where her father, a U.S. Air Force pilot, was stationed? . . . Cristiano Ronaldo's career was almost ended by a heart problem when he was fifteen? Illustrated with rare photos of stars-to-be on and off the field, Before They Were Stars is sure to entertain and inspire any budding soccer legend. AGES: 7 plus AUTHOR: Illugi Jokulsson is a journalist, editor and author based in Iceland.