Kaiser: The Greatest Footballer Never To Play Football
By (Author) Rob Smyth
Vintage Publishing
Yellow Jersey Press
16th July 2018
26th July 2018
United Kingdom
General
Non Fiction
Association football (Soccer)
Conspiracy theories
796.334092
Short-listed for Telegraph Sports Book Awards 2019 (UK)
Paperback
352
Width 129mm, Height 198mm, Spine 21mm
245g
There's only one king in this city and he's got the mullet, swagger and fake ID to prove it. 1980s Rio de Janeiro. There's only one king in this city and he's got the mullet, swagger and fake ID to prove it. Introducing Carlos Henrique Raposo, known to all as KAISER. This guy's got more front than Copacabana beach. He's the most loveable of rogues with the most common of dreams- to become a professional footballer. And he isn't about to let trivial details like talent and achievement stand in his way. . . not when he has so many other ways to get what he wants. In one of the most remarkable football stories ever told, Kaiser graduates from abandoned slumdog to star striker, dressing-room fixer, superstar party host and inexhaustible lover. And all without kicking a ball. He's not just the king... he's the Kaiser.
Raposo's story is brought to life in Rob Smyth's brilliant Kaiser!a book that exhibits all the verve and skill that its subject never could -- Nooruddean Choudry * Joe.co.uk *
[An] almost unbelievable biography -- Ben East * Observer *
Both hilarious and unbelievable, Kaiser! is a preposterously good football read * FourFourTwo *
Smyth does a solid job of showing how Raposos unlikely path might have been smoothed by the chaotic nature of Brazillian football at the timeand the vagaries of the pre-social media world -- Paul Rees * When Saturday Comes *
Rob Smyth has worked on the Guardian sports desk since 2004 and has written or edited ten books, including Kaiser- The Greatest Footballer Never to Play Football. He has also worked for Manchester United, the Daily Telegraph, The Times, ITV, Sports Illustrated and FourFourTwo.