SEX, DRUGS and SOCCER
Playing soccer may be an absolutely marvelous pastime, but gabbing about it is often just as much fun. So, what are the bits most worth gossiping about? The glamorous pros and their antics, of course. They're either addicted to sex or drugs, or they gamble away their lives, fight with anyone and everyone and get up to all kinds of tomfoolery. In short: they like to do what God forbids.
From Maradona to George Best and from Romário to Edgar Davids, the media just love these guys. However, there is still a lot of uncharted territory, and even hardcore football fans do not remember everything or will not have had the time to read all the biographies of these top players.
This book is a collection of the greatest, most famous bad boys of recent years. Their antics, affairs, bust-ups and controversial behavior are all humorously described. This is a book for the soccer fan who wants to have something to talk about with his or her friends in the pub after the match or when on vacation.
The author, Maarten Bax, has been a sports journalist for 25 years. He has worked in the Netherlands as well as abroad, and he has met many of these bad boys personally. You could call him an expert when it comes to soccer's bad boys.
Bax took his first steps in the world of writing with the (authorized) biography of the famous soccer twins Frank and Ronald de Boer – a.k.a. the goody two-shoes of football. Then, Bax gathered momentum with the first-ever biography of a Dutch hooligan and a book on the violent death of linesman Richard Nieuwenhuizen. Finally, in 2014 he wrote the (authorized) biography of Badr Hari, a Dutch kickboxer with a dubious reputation.
And, most importantly, Bax has been playing football since he was a young boy, so he knows what tickles the imagination of the average football fan: sex, drugs and soccer!
Playing soccer may be an absolutely marvelous pastime, but gabbing about it is often just as much fun. So, what are the bits most worth gossiping about? The glamorous pros and their antics, of course. They're either addicted to sex or drugs, or they gamble away their lives, fight with anyone and everyone and get up to all kinds of tomfoolery. In short: they like to do what God forbids.
From Maradona to George Best and from Romário to Edgar Davids, the media just love these guys. However, there is still a lot of uncharted territory, and even hardcore football fans do not remember everything or will not have had the time to read all the biographies of these top players.
This book is a collection of the greatest, most famous bad boys of recent years. Their antics, affairs, bust-ups and controversial behavior are all humorously described. This is a book for the soccer fan who wants to have something to talk about with his or her friends in the pub after the match or when on vacation.
The author, Maarten Bax, has been a sports journalist for 25 years. He has worked in the Netherlands as well as abroad, and he has met many of these bad boys personally. You could call him an expert when it comes to soccer's bad boys.
Bax took his first steps in the world of writing with the (authorized) biography of the famous soccer twins Frank and Ronald de Boer – a.k.a. the goody two-shoes of football. Then, Bax gathered momentum with the first-ever biography of a Dutch hooligan and a book on the violent death of linesman Richard Nieuwenhuizen. Finally, in 2014 he wrote the (authorized) biography of Badr Hari, a Dutch kickboxer with a dubious reputation.
And, most importantly, Bax has been playing football since he was a young boy, so he knows what tickles the imagination of the average football fan: sex, drugs and soccer!
