Hal Phillips is an author, journalist, and media executive based in southern Maine. In January 2026, Bloomsbury will publish his second book-length soccer project, Sibling Rivalry: How Mexico and the U.S. Built the Most Contentious, Co-Dependent Feud in World Soccer. Dickinson-Moses Press published the first, Generation Zero: Founding Fathers, Hidden Histories and the Making of Soccer in America, in July 2022. Phillips blogs on all matters futbol and the world at-large at www.halphillips.net. He can be reached at onintwo@maine.rr.com
An all-state striker at Wellesley (Mass.) High School, Phillips played four years of college soccer at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, where he double-majored in ancient Greek history and modern American literature. He also captained the varsity golf team at Wesleyan. He logged three years in the semi-pro, Greater Boston-based Luso-American Soccer Association, before heading north to play ten more seasons in the Maine Open League. Starting in 1997, he has owned and operated Mandarin Media, Inc., a Maine-based media consulting, content- and digital-marketing agency serving golf, hospitality and property clients across North America, Asia-Pacific and the UK.
Until 1997, Phillips had worked as a daily newspaper and magazine editor. The formation of Mandarin Media essentially launched his freelance journalism career. He has since contributed feature content and columns to ESPN.com, Sports Illustrated, Soccer Journal, Soccer365.com, GOLF Magazine, Travel & Leisure, Golf Digest China, LINKS Magazine, Golf Australia, The Portland Press Herald and Sun-Journal newspapers, McKellar, The Robb Report and dozens of additional titles worldwide, some of which still exist. He was also founder and host of the Unsightly American Soccer Podcast from 2009 to 2013, pioneering but effectively pre-dating the podcast movement.
