Simon Kuper Knihy

Barça je nielen mimoriadne populárnym klubom, ale aj jednou z celosvetovo najvplyvnejších organizácií. Má takmer 250 miliónov sledovateľov na sociálnych sieťach a každý rok jej štadión Camp Nou navštívia viac než štyri milióny športových fanúšikov. No nebolo to tak vždy. Barcelona sa postupne preklasifikovala z regionálneho tímu na globálny hviezdny klub a stala sa vzorom športovej dokonalosti. V posledných rokoch však jej pozíciu podkopala séria nevydarených rozhodnutí, ktoré z nej urobili skôr komerčnú než prvotriednu športovú inštitúciu. Simon Kuper odhaľuje, ako prebiehali jej premeny. Načrtáva organizačnú štruktúru, ktorá stojí za obchodnými rozhodnutiami klubu, podrobne opisuje prácu trénerov, medikov, dátových analytikov a výživových poradcov, ktorí spôsobili revolúciu vo svete športu. Venuje sa, samozrejme, aj tomu, aký nesmierny vplyv na jej úspech mali dve futbalové legendy – Johan Cruyff a Lionel Messi. Podobne ako množstvo iných popredných svetových firiem, aj FC Barcelona si svoje tajomstvá prísne stráži a nahliadnuť do zákulisia nedovolí len tak hocikomu. Po desiatkach rokov písania o športe však Kuperovi umožnili prístup do klubu a k ľuďom, ktorí sa denne snažia udržať Barcelonu na vrchole. Portrét tejto výnimočnej inštitúcie totiž presahuje rámec futbalu a ukazuje Barçu ako jedinečný kultúrny a politický fenomén.

Nepříliš lichotivý pohled na Holandsko a jeho sportovní život v období 2. světové války z pera sportovního žurnalisty. Na základě vzpomínek pamětníků i archivních pramenů autor líčí osudy lidí spojených s fotbalem a s amsterodamským klubem Ajax za 2. světové války. Z příběhů fotbalistů, funkcionářů, příznivců kopané vyvstává podivuhodně plastický obraz společnosti v obsazeném Holandsku. Ústředním tématem se stává vztah Holanďanů ke spoluobčanům židovského původu: přestože se autor vyhýbá černobílému vidění problému, vyplývá z jeho textu, že velká část obyvatelstva zůstala k osudu pronásledovaných Židů spíše lhostejná.

The classic winner of the William Hill Sports Book of the Year Award. schovat popis

In 'Ajax, the Dutch, the war', Simon Kuper delves into the intersection of football, politics, and culture in western Europe, particularly Holland, during the tumultuous years of 1933 to 1945. The narrative explores how football reflected the realities of daily life during the Holocaust, with Dutch football clubs serving as a microcosm of the broader societal changes and challenges faced in occupied Europe. Before the war, Amsterdam was a vibrant hub for its Jewish population, which was drastically affected by the German occupation. The Jewish quarter, once bustling with life, was sealed off, leading to devastating losses by 1945. Kuper examines the lives of players, club officials, and fans, crafting an alternative account of World War II through the lens of football. He also expands his analysis to include England, France, and Germany, illustrating a continent captivated by football even amidst war. The book highlights how the sport was manipulated by figures like Hitler and Mussolini, while also shedding light on individual acts of discrimination and resistance. Accompanied by a rich photographic archive, Kuper's work reveals the intertwining histories of football and the Holocaust, presenting a poignant narrative of collaboration and deportation.

The 2018 World Cup edition of the international bestseller and "the most intelligent book ever written about soccer" (San Francisco Chronicle) is updated throughout and features new chapters on the FIFA scandal, why Iceland wins, and women's soccer. Named one of the Best Books of the Year by the Guardian, Slate, Financial Times, Independent (UK), and Bloomberg News Written with an economist's brain and a soccer writer's skill, Soccernomics applies high-powered analytical tools to everyday soccer topics, looking at data and revealing counterintuitive truths about the world's most beloved game. It all adds up to a revolutionary new approach that has helped change the way the game is played. This World Cup edition features ample new material, including fresh insights into FIFA's corruption, the surge in domestic violence during World Cups, and Western Europe's unprecedented dominance of global soccer.

At last, football has its answer to Freakonomics, The Tipping Point and The Undercover Economist.

The '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?

An entertaining and openhearted tale of a naïf eventually getting to understand a complex, glittering, beautiful and often cruel society - at least a little.When Simon Kuper left London for Paris in his early thirties, he wasn't planning to make a permanent move. Paris, however, had otherplans. Kuper has grown middle-aged there, eaten the croissants, seen his American wife through life-threatening cancer, 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 their neighborhood. Over two decades of becoming something of a cantankerous Parisian himself, Kuper has watched the city change.This century, it has globalized, gentrified, and been shocked into realizing its role as the crucible of civilizational conflict. Sometimes it's a multicultural paradise, and sometimes it isn't. This decade, Parisians have lived through a sequence of terrorist attacks, record floods and heatwaves, the burning of Notre Dame, the storming of the city by gilets jaunes, and then the pandemic. Now, as the Olympics come to town, France is busy executing the "Grand Paris" the most serious attempt yet to knit together the bejewelled city with its neglected suburbs.This is a captivating memoir of the Paris of today, without the Parisian clichés.

Boris Johnson, Michael Gove, David Cameron, George Osborne, Theresa May, Dominic Cummings, Daniel Hannan, Jacob Rees-Mogg: Oxford has produced most of the prominent Conservative politicians of our time. The university newspapers of thirty years ago are full of recognisable names in news stories, photos of social events, and Bullingdon Club reports. Many walked straight out of the world of student debates onto the national stage. Unfortunately, they brought their university politics with them.Eleven of the fifteen postwar British prime ministers went to Oxford. This narrowest of talent pools has shaped the modern country. In Chums, Simon Kuper traces how the rarefied and privileged atmosphere of Oxford University - and the friendships and worldviews it created - helped give us today's Britain, including Brexit.

A deeply human read, wonderfully written, on the foibles of a fascinating, flawed, treacherous, and somewhat likable character. Those betrayed were not innocent; they were no better nor worse than the narrator. George Blake, the last Cold War spy, served as a Senior Officer in British Intelligence while acting as a double agent for the Soviet Union, leading to devastating consequences for Britain. Despite his actions, he remained largely unknown and unrepentant. In 1961, Blake received a forty-two-year prison sentence for betraying Western operations to the KGB, the longest espionage sentence in British history. On the surface, Blake appeared charming and intelligent, a seemingly committed patriot. However, he was also a ruthlessly efficient mole and a key player in the notorious 'Berlin Tunnel' operation. This illuminating biography traces Blake's journey from his beginnings as a teenage courier for the Dutch underground during World War II to his sensational escape from Wormwood Scrubs, which inspired a Hitchcock screenplay. Through personal interviews, extensive research, and unique access to Stasi records, journalist Simon Kuper uncovers Blake's true identity, his capabilities, and the motivations behind his actions.