Simon Kuper

Un fascinante viaje alrededor del mundo en busca de los vínculos secretos entre el fútbol, el poder y la cultura El fútbol no es solo el deporte más popular del mundo. Como dijo Bill Shankly, el míti

Simon Kuper, autor de Soccernomics y Fútbol contra el enemigo nos cuenta la historia de cómo el F.C. Barcelona se convirtió en el club más exitoso del mundo, y cómo esa era está finalizando. «Esta e

An unsparing memoir of the city in the 21st century from a long time Parisien d adoption

Kuper is a shrewd observer in this entertaining mix of memoir and anthropology The Sunday TimesFrom the bestselling author of Chums comes an explorer s tale of a naif getting to understand a complex glittering beautiful and often cruel city Simon Kuper has experienced Paris both as a human being and as a journalist He has grown middle aged there eaten the croissants taken his children to countless football matches on freezing Saturday mornings in the city s notorious banlieues and in 2015 lived through two terrorist attacks on his family s neighbourhood Over two decades of becoming something of a cantankerous Parisian himself Kuper has watched the city change This century Paris has globalised gentrified and been shocked into realising its role as the crucible of civilisational conflict Sometimes it s a multicultural paradise and sometimes it isn t This decade Parisians have lived through a sequence of shocks terrorist attacks record floods and heatwaves the burning of Notre Dame the storming of the city by gilets jaunes and the pandemic Now as the Olympics come to town France is busy executing the Grand Paris project the most serious attempt yet to knit together the bejewelled city with its neglected suburbs This is a captivating m

At a time when democracy feels threatened, Simon Kuper is fighting hard for a better vision of politics - he is brutally honest about our problems but never loses hope that we can build a better democracy' Rory Stewart'An intelligible, compelling and enraging narrative ... how the Good Chaps get away with it' New StatesmanThe 'Good Chaps' theory holds that those who rise to power in the UK can be trusted to follow the rules and do the right thing. They're good chaps, after all.Yet Britain appears to have been taken over by bad chaps, and politics is awash with financial scandals, donors who have practically bought shares in political parties, and a shameless contempt for the rules. Simon Kuper, author of the Sunday Times Top Ten bestseller Chums, exposes how corruption took control of public life, and asks: how can we get politicians to behave like good chaps again?

A passionate, haunting and moving work that tells the breathtaking story of how Dutch Jews survived the unspeakable and came to play a strong role in the rise of the most exciting and revolutionary style of soccer -- "Total Football" -- the world had ever seen. When most people think about the Netherlands, images of tulips and peaceful pot smoking residents spring to mind. Bring up soccer, and most will think of Johan Cruyff, the Dutch player thought to rival Pele in preternatural skill, and Ajax, one of the most influential soccer clubs in the world whose academy system for young athletes has been replicated around the globe. In Ajax, The Dutch, The War: Soccer in Europe During the Second World War, bestselling author Simon Kuper shows how the story of soccer in Holland cannot be understood without investigating what really occurred in this country during WWII. For decades, the Dutch have enjoyed the reputation of having a "good war." The myth is even resonant in Israel where Ajax is celebrated. The fact is, the Jews suffered shocking persecution at the hands of Dutch collaborators. Holland had the second largest Nazi movement in Europe outside Germany, and in no other country except Poland was so high a percentage of Jews deported. Kuper challenges Hollands historical amnesia and uses soccer -- particularly the experience of Ajax, a club long supported by Amsterdams Jews -- as a window on wartime Holland and Europe. Through interviews with Resistance fighters, survivors, wartime soccer players and more, Kuper uncovers this history that has been ignored, and also finds out why the Holocaust had a profound effect on soccer in the country. Ajax produced Cruyff but was also built by members of the Dutch resistance and Holocaust survivors. It became a surrogate family for many who survived the war and its method for producing unparalleled talent became the envy of clubs around the world.

Football history at its best SCOTLAND ON SUNDAYHugely moving... a very good book indeed FOUR FOUR TWOKuper is an original, sophisticated and adventurous writer. The story he has to tell... is fascinating and pressing SUNDAY TIMESIn FOOTBALL AGAINST THE ENEMY Simon Kuper crossed the globe in search of the links between football, politics and culture. In AJAX, THE DUTCH, THE WAR he skilfully pieces together an alternative account of World War II. He looks at the lives of the footballers who played for the Dutch club, the officials and the ordinary fans during this tumultuous period and challenges the accepted notion of the War in occupied Europe. With almost 80 per cent of Amsterdams Jewish Corner wiped out during the war, the long-held belief that, by and large, half the Dutch population had some kind of link to the Resistance has, of late, come into question. Kuper explores this issue and looks deeper into the role of football across Europe in the years both preceding and following the War. The result is a compelling and controversial account of the War, seen through the lens of football.

WINNER OF THE FOOTBALL BOOK OF THE YEARThis is a masterfully written history of the worlds greatest football club. Més que un book! - GARY LINEKERFrom the bestselling co-author of Soccernomics comes the story of how FC Barcelona became the most successful football club in the world - and how that envied position now hangs in the balance.Barça is not just the worlds most popular sports club, it is simply one of the most influential organisations on the planet. With almost 250 million followers on social media and 4 million visitors to its Camp Nou stadium each year, theres little wonder its motto is More than a club. But it was not always so. In the past three decades, Barcelona has transformed from regional team to global powerhouse, becoming a model of sporting excellence and a consistent winner of silverware.Simon Kuper unravels exactly how these transformations took place. He outlines the organisational structure behind the clubs business decisions, and details the work of its coaches, medics, data analysts and nutritionists who have revolutionised the sporting world. And, of course, he studies the towering influence of the clubs two greatest legends, Johan Cruyff and Lionel Messi.Like many leading global businesses, FC Barcelona closely guards its secrets, granting few outsiders a view behind the scenes. But, after decades of writing about the sport and the club, Kuper was given unprecedented access to the inner sanctum and to the people who strive daily to keep Barcelona at the top. Erudite, personal, and capturing all the latest successes and upheavals, his portrait of this incredible institution goes beyond football to understand Barça as a unique social, cultural, and political phenomenon."I began my research thinking I was going to be explaining Barcas rise to greatness, and I have, but Ive also ended up charting the decline and fall."

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GREATIndependentTERRIFICGuardianWONDERFULTime OutQUALITYMail on SundayDEFINITIVEFourFourTwoWinner of the William Hill Sports Book AwardFeatured in FourFourTwos list of The 10 Best Football Books EverFeatured in Esquires Best Sports Books Ever WrittenThroughout the world, football is a potent force in the lives of billions of people. Focusing national, political and cultural identities, football is the medium through which the worlds hopes and fears, passions and hatreds are expressed. Simon Kuper travelled to twenty-two countries from South Africa and Italy to Russia and the USA to examine the way football has shaped them. At the same time, he tried to find out what lies behind each nations distinctive style of play, from the carefree self-expression of the Brazilians to the anxious calculation of the Italians. During his journeys he met an extraordinary range of players, politicians and - of course - the fans themselves, all of whom revealed in their different ways the unique place football has in the life of the planet.

Simon Kuper, autor de Soccernomics y Fútbol contra el enemigo nos cuenta la historia de cómo el F.C. Barcelona se convirtió en el club más exitoso del mundo, y cómo esa era está finalizando.«Esta es

Poder. Privilegio. Fiestas. Es un mundo muy pequeño en la cima.Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, David Cameron, George Osborne, Theresa May, Dominic Cummings, Daniel Hannan, Jacob Rees-Mogg: Whitehall esta plagado de viejos oxonianos. Han debatido entre ellos en las tutorias, se han enfrentado en las elecciones estudiantiles y han asistido a los mismos bailes y cenas de etiqueta.No son solo colegas: son compañeros, rivales, amigos. Y, cuando salieron del mundo de los debates estudiantiles para entrar en la escena nacional, llevaron consigo su politica universitaria.Trece de los diecisiete primeros ministros britanicos de la posguerra estudiaron en la Universidad de Oxford. En Chums, Simon Kuper analiza como la atmosfera enrarecida y privilegiada de este estrechisimo grupo de talentos -y las amistades y visiones del mundo que creo- dio forma a la Gran Bretaña moderna.Una mirada condenatoria a la camarilla universitaria convertida en mayoria en la Camara de los Comunes que abrira de par en par las puertas de Westminster y cambiara para siempre la forma de ver la democracia del Reino Unido.

Written with an economists brain and a soccer writers skill, Soccernomics applies high-powered analytical tools to everyday soccer topicsSoccernomics is a revolutionary new way of looking at soccer that has helped to change the way the sport is played. This World Cup edition features ample new material, including a chapter on womens soccer that makes a case for reparations, an analysis of the pandemics impact on soccer finances, and insights into the failed plan to create a European Super League. Soccernomics remains essential reading for anyone in search of a more strategic, systematic perspective on the game, answering the questions that most consume soccer fans.

The great footballers and coaches are rarely glimpsed from up close. They shield themselves from the tabloids, hide their personalities behind professionalism, and in the words of the cliché, do their talking on the pitch. This book gets up close to them. The Football Menis not a series of celebrity profiles, and it doesnt attempt to unearth secrets in the players private lives. Rather, it portrays these men as three-dimensional human beings. It describes their upbringings, the football cultures they grew up in, the way they play, and the baggage that they bring to their relationships at work. This multimillion-pound, multinational world is mostly inhabited by ordinary men. The profiles in this book are sometimes funny, but never breathless or sensational. Some of the profiles in this book are based on interviews; others are the results of time the author spent with that person; sometimes the profile is a story of a country. All are fascinating and shed light on their subject to reveal things you wouldnt expect. From one of the great sports writers of our time this is a penetrating and surprising collection of articles on the figures that have defined the modern sporting world.

The classic bestseller that changed how the world thinks about football Quite magnificent a sort of Freakanomics of football. Jonathan Wilson, Guardian If youre a football fan, Ill save you some time: read this book Daily Telegraph__________ Football truly is the worlds favourite game, followed in over 200 countries by hundreds of millions of people pouring their hearts and souls into supporting their chosen team every week. But behind the passion are questions that all true football fans want answered: has football spending spun out of control? How much do managers matter? Is hosting a World Cup a poisoned chalice? Soccernomics challenges the conventional wisdom to reveal the surprising truths that actually determine success and failure on the pitch. From an acclaimed economist and leading sports journalist, this modern classic uses data and economic principles to explore the myths that dominate the game. Fully revised and updated ahead of the 2026 World Cup, Soccernomics takes you behind the passion and into the patterns revealing why your team wins, why it loses, and why the game you love doesnt always work the way you think it does. __________ Soccernomics is essential reading for anyone in search of a more strategic, systematic perspective on the game, answering the questions that most consume football fans.

El fútbol no es solo el deporte más popular del mundo. Como dijo Bill Shankly, el mítico entrenador del Liverpool: "el fútbol no es una cuestión de vida o muerte; es mucho más importante que eso". Y no le faltaba razon: durante años ha fraguado guerras, ha alimentado revoluciones e incluso ha contribuido a mantener a dictadores en el poder. Por algo se le conoce como "el deporte rey".Simon Kuper viajo a veintidos paises, de Argentina a Camerun, de Ucrania al Zaire, de Brasil a Sudafrica, de Alemania o España, para investigar la poderosa influencia que el futbol ejerce en la politica, en la cultura y en la sociedad. El resultado, a medio camino entre un libro de viajes y un ensayo sociopolitico, es un fascinante y divertido relato de las complejas tramas ocultas de ambicion y poder, de pasiones individuales y nacionales, de su historia y, como no, de la belleza del deporte mas popular del mundo.ELEGIDO EL MEJOR LIBRO SOBRE FUTBOL POR LA REVISTA FOUR FOUR TWOGANADOR DEL WILLIAM HILL SPORTS BOOK OF THE YEAR

In the tradition of great Magnum books, this publication brings together the work of the finest photographers of our time. Whether covering the latest news or working on commissions or their own personal stories, Magnum photographers have also found time to document a sport that unites us all football. This uplifting book brings together an array of images by outstanding photographers working across the globe: Henri Cartier-Bresson in Italy, James Nachtwey in Brazil, Steve McCurry in Burma, Martin Parr in Japan, Abbas in Iran, Luc Delahaye in France, and many more. The pictures, taken over fifty years, show that whether played with a tin can on the back streets of Glasgow or with bare feet on a dusty field in Tanzania, football is a game that cuts across all geographic and social divides. Magnum photographers have captured the sport and its fans with affection and humour. Magnum Football is not a book about super-rich professionals. Instead, it uses football to illuminate the human condition.