The greatest footballer that never played

"There is something oddly compelling about observing a real-life person who is capable of the absurd or the monstrous. Someone who acts in a way that seems unimaginable to you or I. Kaiser: The Greatest Footballer Never to Play Football, released in UK cinemas this week, chronicles the quite ridiculous life of retired Brazilian footballer Carlos Henrique Raposo. Although little more than a curio to most European sports fans, the mythology surrounding Kaiser (so named due to a spurious similarity to Franz Beckenbauer in his youth) is part of the fabric of Brazil’s football-obsessed culture. Equal parts sports documentary, crime caper and character study, Louis Myles’ film uses a mix of different genres and narrative techniques to examine this notorious con artist in intimate detail. Throughout a career that spanned 26 years and 10 clubs, Kaiser never set foot on a football pitch. A quixotic charlatan with a misogynistic streak, the Brazilian spent his life signing for professional clubs such as Botafago, Fluminense and Flamengo, only to fake injury on the first day of training." [Little White Lies]