Across the world, it's fair to say that after eating and breathing, football occupies a high place in the global unification table. More than just 22 men kicking a ball around a field, football stirs passions beyond enlightened rational thought. Governments rise or fall according to results, and even a war was started immediately after one match between El Salvador and Honduras. But football's greatest asset is its ability to offer the fan a true window to the world crossing racial, political, religious and social divides that blight so much of our lives.

Since the 1930s, various Magnum photographers...