More Than A Shirt: when football kits tell bigger stories

A football shirt is never just fabric. It’s identity. Memory. Belonging. At Ultra Football, we’ve always believed that what you wear on your back says as much as how you play the game. That’s exactly why 'More Than A Shirt' hits so close to home. This isn’t a book about kits looking good under floodlights. It’s about what football shirts really mean, and how they quietly map the world we live in. 

For the first time at Ultra Football, we will be offering a book for the football lovers. Diving deep behind the stories of the kits you wear on and off pitch, this time it's all about how they explain global politics, money and power.

22 Shirts. One Global Story.

In 'More Than A Shirt', journalist Joey D’Urso takes 22 football jerseys and uses them as a lens to explain geopolitics, money, power, and identity in the modern game. From the giants - Barcelona and Real Madrid - to stories stretching across France, England, China, the USA and far beyond, this is football as a world tour.

Every chapter pulls back the curtain on how colours, sponsors, ownership and design reflect wars, migration, sportswashing, and global influence. As The Economist puts it, the book shows “why geopolitics keeps invading the pitch.” Once you read it, you’ll never look at a shirt the same way again.

About the Author: Joey D’Urso

Joey D’Urso is one of the sharpest voices in football journalism today. A British journalist who has reported for BBC News, The Athletic and The Times, More Than A Shirt is his first book - and it’s already made serious noise. Named Sports Book of the Year by The Guardian, The Times and Waterstones, and longlisted for the 2025 William Hill Sports Book of the Year, it’s been praised as “smart, warm and original” and “one of the most innovative football books in years.” Joey combines investigative reporting with a genuine love for the game, connecting the local and the global in a way few writers can.

Meet Joey In-Store: Sydney & Melbourne

To celebrate the release, we’re bringing Joey D’Urso into Ultra Football stores for two free events. Joey will be in-store to talk about More Than A Shirt, answer your questions, and sign copies of the book.

Sydney: January 4. Tickets are available here.
Melbourne: January 11. Tickets are available here.

Books will be extremely limited, and once they’re gone, they’re gone. If you care about football culture, shirts, history, and the forces shaping the modern game, this is one event you don’t want to miss.

More than a book. More than a shirt. This is football, fully uncovered.