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What: “The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Soccer” CD-ROM.

Price: $19.95 (PNE CD-ROM).

First the World Cup, then a functioning professional soccer league with a national television contract, and now this--a CD-ROM on the history of soccer that is actually available for purchase within U.S. boundaries.

“The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Soccer,” readily available in England since mid-1996, has been only a rumor here--much as was Major League Soccer between 1994 and 1996. But stateside soccer fans can now find it without flying overseas. A mail-order company, Soccer Learning Systems of San Ramon, includes the disk in its August catalog.

The multimedia companion to the Carlton Books publication of the same name, the “Encyclopedia” is both a useful introduction to the sport for novices and a valuable reference resource for the aficionado.

Included are sections on top soccer tournaments, ranging from the World Cup to the CONCACAF Champions Cup; the “great soccer-playing nations” (surprisingly, there’s a U.S. entry here); great players; great professional teams; the world’s “top 20 soccer stadiums;” tactics; rules; memorable matches; and a timeline history of the game.

Amid 40 minutes of video clips, 140,000 words of “comprehensive analysis” and 281 biographical profiles of the “best players of all-time,” there is a soccer trivia quiz--a welcome rip cord to be pulled if and when the eyes begin to glaze over somewhere between Gerd Muller and Gunter Netzer.

“The United States is viewed by many as a non-[soccer] country,” the Encyclopedia assesses, which helps explain no American-born player cracking the top 281--although there is a color picture of Alexi Lalas--and no U.S. professional team listed among the world’s 43 “great clubs.”

Arsenal, Boca Juniors, Colo Colo, Bayern Munich, Celtic and Benfica are all here. D.C United, apparently, fell a tad short.

“The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Soccer” can be ordered by phoning Soccer Learning Systems at (800) 762-2376 or (510) 820-0220.