Why does a team have 11 players and not 15? Why is a football goal 2.44 meters high and 7.32 meters wide? How was the size of the playing field determined? Why was the new back-pass rule introduced? And why are players no longer allowed to use their hands, as they could in the early stages of the game? Why is this only permitted for the goalkeeper, and only within their own penalty area? Why these restrictions? Why rules at all? For everyone who asks these questions, there is now a book with the answers: "Before the Game is After the Game" explores one of the most popular pastimes from a systemic and sociological perspective. It offers unusual insights into the game with and without the ball, body awareness, football and communication, and many other topics surrounding the ninety minutes between the whistle to start and the whistle to end.