5 Books To Add To Your TBR If You Love Ted Lasso

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The team behind "Ted Lasso" couldn't have predicted the circumstances of its arrival, but it happened at exactly the right time. When the Apple TV+ series premiered in 2020, its wholesome tone and relentlessly optimistic title hero were hailed as a balm for spirits weary from the COVID-19 pandemic and, you know, everything since then. However, short seasons and increasingly long gaps between them have left those viewers vying for more heartwarming dramedy.

Fortunately, there's a wide world of sports rom-coms, soccer strategy, and quirky ensemble dramas out there for those willing to tear their eyes away from the screen and embrace the page. If you're not sure where to start, you could try one of the many books featured or mentioned on the series, but there's a wide and scary gulf between "A Wrinkle in Time" and "Fight Club." That's why we combed the shelves for books that readers say will scratch the same hopeful itch as "Ted Lasso."

Father issues are at the core of "Ted Lasso." This is most obvious when its protagonist realizes in Season 2 how much his father's death during his childhood has influenced both his sunny disposition and his mental health problems, but several other characters also struggle with their paternal relationships, occasionally physically. The same is true for "Fever Pitch," whose author, Nick Hornby, explains that his lifelong obsession with soccer started as a bonding experience with his absent-ish father.

In this unlikely 1992 sports memoir, the writer of "High Fidelity" and "About a Boy" recounts the events of his life in terms of memorable soccer matches involving his beloved Arsenal FC with the same poignant but slapstick tone that's earned "Ted Lasso" so much love. There are highs and lows as well; with Hornby's team not being much better than AFC Richmond at times. When they're done with the book, those devoted to the screen will be delighted to learn that "Fever Pitch" was fictionally adapted not once but twice, in both British (starring Colin Firth) and American (starring Drew Barrymore) flavors.

Abby McIntyre (AKA "Abby Offsides") is basically a gender-flipped Ted Lasso. Like everyone's favorite clueless team manager, Abby is an American who knows nothing about soccer. Also like Lasso, however, she's willing to accept a job working for an English soccer team (though in the marketing department) if it means putting an ocean in-between her and her romantic problems. In this case, that's a fiancé who broke her heart and their engagement.

There's one big difference between this book and the beloved series, however: This is a romance. Thanks to wacky housing hijinks, Abby ends up living with one of the team's players, and they bond over their mutual fish-out-of-water status. The only thing standing in the way of athletic bliss is the wife he mysteriously left behind in Scotland. If you need any further reassurance that this is one of the best sports romance books for "Ted Lasso" fans, it was published in 2026 by Jenna Bush Hager's Random House imprint, Thousand Voices, and the "Today Show" litfluencer even described it as "'Notting Hill' meets 'Ted Lasso.'"

If the on-field action is your favorite part of "Ted Lasso," non-fiction might be the way to go for you. Under that umbrella, there are few better selections than "Inverting the Pyramid," soccer journalist Jonathan Wilson's 2008 history of the evolution of tactics in games. If nothing else, it's heavily "Ted Lasso"–endorsed: Coach Beard can be seen reading it on the plane in the very first episode of the series, and the Season 2 finale, "Inverting the Pyramid of Success," is partially named after this book.

Make no mistake, however: This is no boring history lesson. As Wilson traces the history of soccer tactics through time and geography, he ties it inexplicably to the peculiarities of the personalities who developed them and even the cultural attitudes and political contexts under which they were developed. The cross-cultural calamity, colorful cast of characters, and compelling command of soccer as storytelling will be enjoyed by "Ted Lasso" fans of all levels of sports knowledge.

When "Ted Lasso" viewers recommend books to fellow fans, one name comes up over and over again: Fredrik Backman. Like Richmond AFC, his books — like "My Friends," "A Man Called Ove," and "Britt-Marie Was Here" — are full of quirky but tragic characters who come together under vexing circumstances to rediscover the meaning of human connection. The most recommended title, however, is 2019's "Anxious People."

There may not be any soccer in "Anxious People" — Backman's more of a hockey guy — but what it shares with "Ted Lasso" is a group of people failing to react normally to anything at all. To be fair, they've all been taken hostage at a real estate open house by a failed bank robber, and the way each of them responds to the situation (including the bank robber) is what makes the story so unexpectedly heartwarming. Most similarly, one character's witness of a suicide as a young man fundamentally changes the course of his life.

"The House in the Cerulean Sea" also contains no soccer, which makes it seem like an odd recommendation for fans of a TV show about the sport, but there's a good reason "Ted Lasso" fans overwhelmingly endorse this likewise welcome 2020 release. One of its characters, Arthur Parnassus, is just like Ted: fiercely kind, protective, and above all, optimistic. He may hail from Marsyas Island rather than Kansas City, but the quiet strength is all the same.

Parnassus runs an orphanage for magical children in the eponymous blue waterway, so a certain level of whimsy is just part of the job, and so is fatherly safeguarding when the paranormal government threatens their home. "Ted Lasso" fans insist it gives you the same warm and wholesome feeling as Jason Sudeikis's brainchild, as well as the folksy wisdom about life's possibilities. If you agree, you'll be pleased to know that "The House in the Cerulean Sea" has a sequel, "Somewhere Beyond the Sea," which was one of our most anticipated fall 2024 book releases.

We searched Reddit for threads by "Ted Lasso" fans asking for recommendations for books similar to the TV show and pored over the comments. We identified titles with elements similar to "Ted Lasso," such as ensemble casts of characters, quirky personalities, tragic backstories, found family, unlikely heroes, themes of kindness and optimism, and of course, soccer, taking note of repeat recommendations. We ranked the resulting list in order of average Goodreads review scores.