Sid Lowe

He is also the author of the acclaimed book Fear and Loathing in La Liga: Barcelona, Real Madrid, and the World's Greatest Sports Rivalry, which chronicles the relationship between the two Spanish giants and was a nominee for the William Hill Sports Book of the Year for 2013.

In February 2008, Lowe completed a PhD, titled "The Juventud de Acción Popular in Spain, 1932-1937", at the University of Sheffield. On 1 October 2010, the thesis was published as a book by Sussex Academic Press titled Catholicism, War and the Foundation of Francoism: The Juventud de Acción Popular in Spain, 1932-1937. The book expanded on his thesis and deals with the political history of the Catholic youth movement during the Spanish Second Republic and Spanish Civil War.

In August 2008, Lowe wrote a news piece for The Guardian that caused considerable controversy in Spain, in which he reported on a photo that showed the Spain national basketball team posing in a way that could potentially be seen as offensive to Chinese and other Asian people. The Chinese embassy in Spain declared that they "didn't consider the gesture as racist". Although the article was relatively short and appeared on page 9 of the newspaper's sports section, it touched off a heated back and forth between Spain and the "Anglo-Saxon" world. Lowe had to write an article explaining and defending the publishing of the article in the Media section of The Guardian' s website. In the article he recounted the backlash that he experienced in the Spanish media after the publication of the article.

Lowe has been writing for The Guardian newspaper and guardian.co.uk website since 2001. He regularly appears (via phone or Skype) on The Guardian's football podcast Football Weekly where he gives updates on the latest news in La Liga, the top division of Spanish football. He conducts a series of relatively lighthearted interviews for an interview series known as "Small Talk" for The Guardian, with Spain-based and Spanish players. Some recurrent questions in the "Small Talk" interview series include: "What was the last CD you bought?", "What was the last book you read?" and "Who would win a fight between a lion and a tiger?"

Simon James "Sid" Lowe (born 21 June 1976) is an English columnist and journalist. Born in Archway, London, and based in Madrid, he covers Spanish football for many publications, websites, television channels, radio stations, and football-related podcasts across the world.