Financial Times columnist, and author of books including Chums, Good Chaps, Impossible City: Paris in the Twenty-First Century, Soccernomics and out in late 2025, World Cup Fever. British and now French too, lives in Paris with wife and kids.
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No, because it's impossible to identify the 7-year-olds who are going to be great 23-year-olds. Only solution is to invest in a whole country playing
Ian DIt is actually the opposite that wins World Cups. It is all linked to expenditure and elitism at a very early age, only for the very best young players. So over the years 1,000s go through the system to generate one professional player and from these one in a hundred maybe an international player.
Amateur football touches millions of European kids. A very small group within that ever plays in pro academies. You're conflating the two systems
Mike GoodmanI mean, that’s also not true. Or if it is the European system does a poor job of it. The development system chews so many kids up and spits them out.
After 24 years as an FT columnist, this is my last column. It's not as drastic as that - I'm going to become an FT feature writer (after much-needed long holiday). Me @financialtimes.com on my method for writing column, how I learned to be shouted at, 2016 etc. Free link as.ft.com/r/aebbeadf-5...
My life as a columnist is divided in two: before Brexit and afterThe events of 2016 revised my worldview and taught me how to be shouted atas.ft.comMe @financialtimes.com on the best team in the world that won this World Cup (and almost everything else recently) based on a national football culture that everyone in Spain learns aged six. Any other winner would have been a travesty. Felicidades - and free link: as.ft.com/r/57316316-6...
Spain outplay Messi’s Argentina to reach World Cup summitTournament’s best team wins one-sided final 1-0 and claims clutch of individual prizesas.ft.comMy World Cup awards. Best goal, best miss, worst ref, Villain of the tournament, Cinderella, Beautiful Loser, best host city, best player who isn't Leo Messi and more. Free link as.ft.com/r/3eb7c523-5...
Heroes, villains and clowns: Simon Kuper’s World Cup awardsWith Fifa a bit short on credibility, the FT columnist has stepped in to create his own prizesas.ft.comMe @financialtimes.com on Leo Messi's long and winding road with Argentina until he became the emblem of his country way beyond football. From a weeping family in the taxi leaving Rosário through Easyjet flights to a stadium full of people who come from the land of Messi as.ft.com/r/91af4709-9...
Lionel Messi, Argentine legend with nothing left to proveAs he plays his third World Cup final, the star has created an alternative global hierarchyas.ft.comMy @financialtimes.com profile of Lamine Yamal, most successful young footballer in history, the star who's just a cog in this Spain side - and not even the biggest star in his family. On Sunday he may put poor Donald Trump in a terrible situation. Free link as.ft.com/r/0f5c15b0-9...
Lamine Yamal: the baby in a bath tub who became a crucial cog for SpainPosing an almost insoluble dual threat to defenders, the teenager may be the most successful young footballer in historyas.ft.comHere again my piece on how England self-sabotaged, deserved to go out, and didn't even achieve heroic defeat. What did they think would happen if they let Messi camp in their penalty area for 40 minutes? Me @financialtimes.com on atavistic English instincts. New free link as.ft.com/r/30261ec1-b...
Messi punishes England to drive Argentina into World Cup finalReigning men’s champions celebrate comeback 2-1 win after opponents retreat into defensive shellas.ft.comPart of the joy of this World Cup has been watching geniuses deliver (most of the time anyway). Messi, Haaland, Bellingham, Lamine Yamal, Mbappé. Me @financialtimes.com on how football on the field has shifted to a version of the Hollywood star system. Good for humanity as.ft.com/r/1e596aab-8...
Holland went out weeks ago
Jonny BrickI'm sorry for your loss, but at least it's the Kuper derby on Saturday night.
My report from Atlanta on a witless England reverting to ancestral type. Free link as.ft.com/r/08d296e9-b...
For no particular reason, I'm reposting my piece on the history and secrets of Spain's impenetrable defence, made in 1960s' Amsterdam. Free link as.ft.com/r/09667276-0... @financialtimes.com as.ft.com/r/ff9c7de9-c...
The secret of Spain’s impenetrable World Cup defence‘La Roja’ have not conceded a goal in the tournament despite aiming to have every outfield player in the other team’s halfas.ft.comMy Deschamps profile with new free link, as old one seems to have expired as.ft.com/r/0ad822f0-0...
France’s Didier Deschamps tilts for a third — and final — World CupHow a gruff footballer from the Basque Country became one of the national team’s most respected leadersas.ft.comSimon KuperIn a country that despises most of its leaders, the French coach Didier Deschamps has had universal respect for decades. Me @financialtimes.com on one of two Basque coaches in today's semi, whose natural leadership was revealed in a terrible moment aged 16. Free link as.ft.com/r/49ceb6da-1...
For anyone who has developed an obsession with Erling Haaland, including his 66 million Instagram followers, let me recommend Lars Sivertsen's lovely and deeply informed biography www.penguin.co.uk/books/457689...
Amazon.com: Haaland: The Biography: 9781529913118: Sivertsen, Lars: BooksAmazon.com: Haaland: The Biography: 9781529913118: Sivertsen, Lars: Bookswww.amazon.comIn a country that despises most of its leaders, the French coach Didier Deschamps has had universal respect for decades. Me @financialtimes.com on one of two Basque coaches in today's semi, whose natural leadership was revealed in a terrible moment aged 16. Free link as.ft.com/r/49ceb6da-1...
France’s Didier Deschamps tilts for a third — and final — World CupHow a gruff footballer from the Basque Country became one of the national team’s most respected leadersas.ft.comHere's my article on Western Europe's strength in football, with new free link (old one expired). For people who think a. football dominance is just about having money, or b. that I'm connecting this to European 'race' or some such nonsense, why not try reading the article? as.ft.com/r/32e28a83-7...
How western Europe became a formidable football factoryNational teams from the region have dominated the top three placings in the World Cup since 2006as.ft.comSimon KuperThis is the 6th World Cup running where only two categories of team are left at the end: Western Europeans (+ Central European Croatia), and sometimes Messi's Argentina. Why is Western Europe great at football? My life has been a journey to find out. Me @financialtimes.com as.ft.com/r/ef9c483a-f...
The US is very rich, the Gulf is very rich, but they aren't good at football. Portugal and Croatia are not very rich but they are good at football. Interesting, isn't it?
RushemanWhy is the richest region in the world really good at the sport they invented when they were even richer than they are now? There's definitely some interesting nuance to this question, but the primary explanation is incredibly simple and obvious and any alternative is nonsense
Viewing figures for third-place game are extremely high and it's highly valued as triumph by smaller nations like Croatia or (defeated) Morocco and Uruguay. Dud to whom?
Prof Col MacphersonSlightly odd going for the "top 3" when the 3rd/4th play off is recognised as a fairly dud game. Think 4th place should get as much credit as 3rd, which brings Morocco (2022), Brazil (2014), and Uruguay (2010) into the picture.