James Montague is an award-winning author and journalist from Chelmsford, Essex. He writes for The Bleacher Report, The New York Times and Delayed Gratification. His latest book is 1312: Among the Ultras – a journey with football’s most extreme fans which was published by Ebury in 2020. Known for his fearless reporting style, Montague’s cut his teeth on his first book – When Friday Comes about the place of football in the Middle East (Mainstream Books 2009 and reprinted by De Courbetin books in 2011). It won him the “Best New Writer” award at the British Sports Book of the Year Awards. His next book, 31-Nil: On the Road with Football’s Outsiders was a remarkable odyssey-like journey to discover the lengths to which clubs would go to qualify for the World Cup. It included that near-legendary Samoan game which is now the subject of a film starring Michael Fassbender and Elisabeth Moss to be released in late 2020. His third book, The Billionaires’ Club (Bloomsbury) won the 2015 Football Book of the Year Award at the Cross Sports Book Awards. James is currently living in Istanbul.
