Summary: Simon Kuper is a renowned author of many football books. Elisa and Ravi had the pleasure of interviewing him eariler this week. Here is a list of the books he has written so far. 1. Soccer Men Profiles of the Rogues, Geniuses, and Neurotics who dominate the world's most popular sport This book profiles the interesting and the not to so interesting football figures who have graced the world of football. Our interview was mostly focussed on the contents of this book. One of the figures profiled in this book is Jorge Valdano. We discuss the legacy of Valdano at Real Madrid. Simon also talks how and why he choose certain players over the others to profile in the book. Xavi, Messi, Fabregas, Torres, Maradona, Cryuff are among the players who are profiled in this book who are either Spanish or have played in the Spanish league. 2. Soccernomics - co-authored with Stefan Szymanski Why England always loses, Why Germany and Brazil win and Why US, Japan, Australia, Turkey and even Iraq are destined to become the kings of the World's most popular port. This book is all about numbers and stats about the various aspects of football like the popularity of the game across the countries in the world. 3. Soccer against th enemy 4. Ajax, the Dutch, the War 5. Magnum Soccer 6. Simon also writes a weekly column on Financial Times The following questions/topics were discussed in the interview Inspiration for Soccermen How long it took to write Soccermen Jorge Valdano's legacy at Real Madrid Do modern players have personalities? Simon quotes a couple of examples: One of a Real Madrid player and Lionel Messi Do football players love their club? Was there a criteria you used to choose players to profile in Soccermen? Johan Cryuff - Legacy - Ajax 8 Barça academies The trend of Spanish players moving to England Why did Spain become world and european champions Soccernomics questions: Spain is not among the top nations that watch or play football. How does that explain their recent success? La Masia 8 Ajax academy Messi v Ronaldo debate Messi v Maradona debate Finances of Spanish league clubs - The case of Bryan Ruíz The Big Two in Spain vis-a-vis the European Superleague debate Rosell's comment about shrinking La Liga to 16 teams Difference in youth academies in La Liga vs English Premier League The academy wars: one club poaching academy players of another club Denis Bergkamp's aspirations to become a manager Why football clubs rarely go bust even when they are not viable financially. We thank Simon Kuper for agreeing to take some time out of his busy schedule to talk to us. We also thank Caitlin Graf of Peruse Books who helped us coordinate and schedule this interview for us. Contest for podcast listeners Listeners! We have a contest for you! During the interview Simon mentions what are the new books that Simon is working on right now. All you have to do is Email us the names of ALL the new books he is working on. You have a chance to win a copy of the Soccermen! The prizes are sponsored by Peruse books. Thank you Caitlin.Download Standard Podcast
