THE 2006 World Cup has prompted some superb publications. Perhaps the best of the bunch is Geoff Hurst's book 1966 World Champions (Headline, £20), with a foreword written by England manager Sven-Goran Eriksson. Hurst, who scored a hat-trick in the final against Germany on July 30, 1966, has already written an entertaining autobiography on the subject, 1966 And All That, but the new coffee table book takes an even more forensic look at the finals, with an overview of the cultural changes the capital was experiencing.

It is lavishly illustrated, including photographs from the goal-scoring hero's private collection, and contains personal reminiscences from a host of celebrities, and flashbacks to the news, events, films and music of that year. To cap it all, the Wembley turf has been used in the endpapers of the book.

Not far behind comes 1966 Uncovered (Mitchell Beazley, £25), compiled by Peter Robinson and Doug Cheeseman, with text by Harry Pearson, a foreword by Bobby Charlton and Franz Beckenbauer, and an afterword by Alan Bennett. Published to commemorate the 40th anniversary of English's football's finest moment, it is an outstanding collection of unique and unseen archive photography capturing the distinctive flavour of the tournament both on and off the pitch. Time and time again we see the image of Bobby Moore being held aloft by Geoff Hurst. Yet during the 1966 tournament, hundreds of shots were taken by an army of photographers, and many of them have never been seen or have been lost or hidden away for over 40 years before. Robinson and Cheeseman decided to hunt down these lost imagesa.

Sir Alf by Leo McKinstry (HarperSport, £18.99) is a detailed biography of the manager who masterminded England's greatest footballing triumph, and how he was treated so shamefully by the Football Association, once his powers were on the wane.

No team has won the World Cup more times than Brazil, who took home the Jules Rimet trophy in 1970, after winning the trophy three times. Pele has written his own story before, but has produced the tale again in time for this year's tournament in Pele: The Autobiography (Simon & Schuster, £18.99). This should be essential reading for England players like Gary Neville, who have delusions of winning the World Cup. Pele used to knock down telegraph poles outside his home as he practised to be the greatest ever player, and the book explains how football has become part of Brazil's national psyche.

Michael Owen probably worships Pele, because he considers himself a clinical finisher, and in his autobiography Off The Record (HarperSport, £6.99) the England player gives a considered and analytical account of his progress for clubs and country.

All Played Out, by Pete Davies (Yellow Press, £8.99), is a detailed account of what it was like to be a member of Bobby Robson's England side in Italia '90. Davies manages to get all the key players on side without paying them, and the book is still avidly read by football fans 16 years on. Memories of Gazza's tears will come flooding back.

Andrew Ffrench