A World Cup history in caricature

It will take something special to stand out from the crowd among the plethora of books celebrating the 2010 World Cup.

However, artist German Aczel has managed to give the tournament a unique perspective, producing a wonderful history in caricature.

Aczel, born in Argentina but now resident in Munich, where he works for Bravo Sport magazine, has taken many of the iconic photographs from the 18 tournaments so far staged and created brilliant drawings that capture vividly the character of the individuals and the drama of the event.

The famous image of Bobby Moore (above, left), the Jules Rimet Trophy proudly held aloft, being borne on the shoulders of teammates at Wembley '66 will be popular with England fans, certainly more so than the illustration of Diego Maradona's 'Hand of God' moment in Mexico 20 years later.

With pencils and watercolours, Aczel also brings new life to some of the tournaments never-to-be-forgotten moments, such as Marco Tardelli's manic goal celebration (pictured below) in the 1982 final and Paul Gascoigne's tears in Italia 90.

With text by Randall Northam, whose SportsBooks company is the publisher of World Cup 1930-2010, the book tells the story of each tournament in comic strip style and sketches the sequence of play leading to many of the best and decisive goals. There is a section, too, looking ahead to this year's tournament, with Wayne Rooney (right) among the stars-in-waiting.

Aczel, who moved to Europe after marrying a German girl, revealed his talent at a young age, winning prizes for his work in his hometown of Buenos Aires and staging his first exhibition at 20.  He drew illustrations for Argentina's La Nacion newspaper and the sports magazine El Grafico and has also worked in Brazil.

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SportsBooks, formed in 1995, has acquired a reputation for making room in its catalogue for the quirky and off-beat as well as more mainstream titles, publishing "books we think deserve to be out in the marketplace."