Love Goals – 10 Soccer Romances to Keep the Season Going

Close Knit by Kels Stone

CAMERON HASTINGS

I was running from the paparazzi when I crashed into a mystery girl with bright eyes and lavender hair.

All it took was a smile from her, and I was a goner.

We agreed to one night. No strings. No real names.

So imagine my surprise when I discover she’s moving across the hall from me—in another country.

But I don’t have time for distractions, especially after last season.

It doesn’t matter that I’m the best of the best, the only American keeper in the Premier League. I need to prove myself to my new team. I need to give them everything so we have a shot at winning the championship.

But I have a problem.

It was supposed to be one night. But I want more…

DAPHNE QUINN

I blame it on my Yes Year: finally stepping out of my comfort zone, moving to London, and . . . Him.

The man I spent that magical evening with. But this version of him, the guy who wears all black and a matching scowl, is nothing like the man I remember.

I do my best to avoid him, instead focusing on creating a real-world safe space for my online knitting community and collecting as many experiences as I can during my stint abroad.

But one neighborly run-in leads to another, and suddenly, I’m catching glimpses of him again.

For the first time in my life, I feel confident enough to play by my own rules. To live my life on my own terms, bullies be damned.

But how do I play to win when I’m facing down a man who protects his heart at all costs?

Everything for You by Chloe Liese

Enemies become lovers in this sizzling sports romance about taking a chance on love when life’s taught you it’s a losing game.

Oliver Bergman is a beloved rising soccer star, all sunshine smiles and the heart of their team’s spirit. To make matters worse, he’s obscenely attractive. In he’s genetically designed to get under misanthropic, miserable Gavin’s aggravated skin.

Ten years older than Oliver and a legendary player at the end of his career, Gavin Hayes is the team’s demanding captain. He’s also a giant–albeit gorgeous–grump who lives to rain on Oliver’s parade. Especially when Oliver and Gavin are named co-captains of the team.

Sick of their hostility, Coach gives them an put an end to their enmity or say goodbye to being captains. Forced to finally to lower their guards, Gavin and Oliver realize that they also have chemistry off the field and it’s fueled by something much more powerful than competition—an explosive attraction.

Rock Bottom Girl by Lucy Score 

Downsized, broke, and dumped, 38-year-old Marley sneaks home to her childhood bedroom in the town she couldn’t wait to escape twenty years ago. Not much has changed in Culpepper. The cool kids are still cool. Now they just own car dealerships and live in McMansions next door. Oh, and the whole town is still talking about that Homecoming she ruined her senior year.

Desperate for a new start, Marley accepts a temporary teaching position. Can the girl banned from all future Culpepper High Homecomings keep the losing-est girls soccer team in school history from killing each other and prevent carpal tunnel in a bunch of phone-clutching gym class students?

Maybe with the help of Jake Weston, high school bad boy turned sexy good guy. When the school rumor mill sends Marley to the principal’s office to sign an ethics contract, the tattooed track coach, dog dad, and teacher of the year becomes her new fake boyfriend and alibi—for a price. The Deal: He’ll teach her how to coach if she teaches him how to be in a relationship.

Who knew a fake boyfriend could deliver such real orgasms? But it’s all temporary. The guy. The job. The team. There’s too much history. Rock bottom can’t turn into a foundation for happily ever after. Can it? 

Knockout by Riley Bauer 

Marek Kovář’s a Czech international with his whole life sorted into sealed boxes: the footballer, the teammate, the man nobody knows drives to Naples on his off-days. Enzo is the one box he can’t keep shut. And the bracket has them on a collision course for the quarterfinal, Czech Republic against Italy, where Marek’s only job is to mark the man he’s spent two years pretending he can live without.

Enzo Valenti has never hidden a day in his life. He’s out to the people who matter, rooted to the bone in the city that made him, and done being any man’s secret. He knows Marek wants him. He just needs to know if Marek will ever choose him in daylight, instead of leaving before the coffee’s made.

You can keep a man in a box when you only see him after dark. You can’t keep him there when you have to mark him for ninety minutes in front of thousands of people.

Knockout is the second book in the Open Play soccer series about a guarded man, another who refuses to be a secret, and the soccer tournament that puts them on opposite sides of the same white line. A second chance romance with rivals on the pitch, a found family of teammates who notice everything, and a secret relationship running out of places to hide and a swoony HEA.

The Fake Boyfriend Fiasco by Talia Hibbert 

This soccer star is determined to win… his woman’s heart.

For millionaire footballer Nikolas Christou, one look is all it takes. The minute he sees Aria Granger, he’s a goner. Playboy Nik knows lust—intimately—but his need for Aria goes far beyond that. Of course, the plus-sized beauty isn’t interested in romance… but Nik isn’t interested in giving up.

Aria Granger has sworn off relationships for her own good. After all, her ex nearly murdered her best friend, so clearly her taste is questionable. When charming, gorgeous Nik bounds into her life, Aria can’t decide if he’s as innocent as he seems… or if her bullsh*t-ometer is broken.

The super-sweet sports star claims he needs a fake girlfriend to protect him from ‘misunderstandings’. And Aria, with her tattoos, piercings and dangerous scowl, fits the bill. But there’s no way a guy as handsome as Nik can be that bad at handling relationships. Can he?

Relationship Goals by Brittany Kelley 

An infamously grumpy star soccer player is forced to fake date a Hollywood starlet, only to develop real feelings for her—just as she learns he was pretending and vows to get even.

Abigail Hunt’s Hollywood dreams could best be described as slow burn…but she’s about to graduate from TV sidekick to dramatic actor. When the esteemed director of what she’s hoping will be her breakout role suggests she do a deep-dive for her part by shadowing the director of a struggling pro soccer team, she jumps at the chance to prove she’s ready.

She wasn’t expecting notorious grump and gorgeous star player Luke Wolfe to ask her out though, and suddenly her research is getting a lot more…hands-on. Their relationship quickly sets social media on fire, and Luke seems determined to prove he’s more than his villainous reputation. But just when Abby is happier than ever—her name in the spotlight and heart in good hands—the other cleat drops: Luke was coerced into faking their relationship.

Furious, Abby refuses to give him the satisfaction of dumping him—she decides to get even. It’s only a matter of time until she pushes the right buttons.

She just didn’t expect him to keep putting up with it—or to say I love you.

Cleats and Chemistry by Emily Bellford

He’s my brother’s teammate.

My off-limits patient.

And the one player I absolutely cannot want.

I’m the trainer, physiotherapist, keeping the Charlotte Kings healthy for the Global Cup.

Colton Ayers is the charming midfielder with a reckless hamstring, a crooked grin, and a habit of sitting on my treatment table like he owns it.

My rule is simple.

Protocol first.

Feelings never.

Then he starts noticing things no one else does.

The song I tap against my thigh.

The poems I hide on my phone.

The pieces of me I keep locked behind my clipboard.

He says he trusts my protocol more than the coach’s timeline.

I almost believe him.

But one reporter is already circling.

One headline could wreck my career.

The Romcom Remake by Jen Atkinson 

She’s plotting a romcom. He’s playing without a game plan.
But sometimes the best love stories are the ones that don’t follow the script.

Is it too much to ask for a romcom-level romance?
Fran Fairchild doesn’t think so.
After growing up in a loveless home, she is determined to script her own happily-ever-after.

True love is out there. It’s real. And Fran won’t be leaving without it.

But so far, her romcom remakes have been one epic fail after another.
Until one unexpected kiss from a handsome stranger saves her from public humiliation—

Callum Whitaker–professional soccer player and certified romance skeptic–didn’t plan to kiss Fran. Or to spiral into a six-month goal drought. Let’s just say the universe isn’t playing fair.

After a toxic relationship, Callum has decided that love isn’t part of his agenda… while scoring goals on the field is. Only the more he focuses on his game–the worse it gets.

Until Fran.
Yep, quirky, cute little Fran–who Callum is determined NOT to fall for–just might be his lucky charm. That kiss and her schemes are changing his game.

But Fran’s got more than luck on her side–she’s on a mission: Convince Callum that love is not the enemy. And somehow, it’s working. Bit by bit, he’s realizing he does need love in his life.

Or maybe he just needs Fran.

Penalty Kiss by Annie Dyer 

Clean-living, wholesome, and with a constant smile plastered on her pretty face, Dee Jones is my antithesis.

She’s also what I’m told I need to polish my somewhat tarnished image – apparently being papped getting friendly with a fellow holiday maker on a sun lounger after your ex does a kiss-and-tell with the media isn’t exactly what Manchester Athletic deems great publicity for their bad boy midfielder.

A repair job is needed, and the club is hoping that the super shiny star player for the women’s team can transfer some of her good-girl sunshine stardust on to me.

But Dee hates me and I’m the last thing she wants to deal with right now, because Miss Dee has problems of her own. Problems that could score her an own goal.

She’s meant to be my penalty, but will she let me be her kiss instead? 

Cleat Cute by Meryl Wilsner 

Grace Henderson has been a star of the US Women’s National Team for ten years, even though she’s only 26. But when she’s sidelined with an injury, a bold new upstart, Phoebe Matthews, takes her spot. Phoebe is everything Grace isn’t—a gregarious jokester who plays with a joy that Grace lost somewhere along the way. The last thing Grace expects is to become friends with benefits with this class clown she sees as her rival.

Phoebe Matthews has always admired Grace’s skill and was star struck to be training alongside her idol. But she quickly finds herself looking at Grace as more than a mere teammate. After one daring kiss, she’s hooked. Grace is everything she has been waiting to find.

As the World Cup approaches, and Grace works her way back from injury, the women decide to find a way they can play together instead of vying for the same position. Except, when they are off the field, Grace is worried she’s catching feelings while Phoebe thinks they are dating. As the tension between them grows, will both players realize they care more about their relationship than making the roster?