Only die-hard soccer fans will enjoy this. If you're looking for photos look somewhere else.

A quick, painless read from one of the premier soccer journalists, maybe the best one working today. Personally, I would have enjoyed more profiles on the managers and general managers - more Jose Mourinho, Mike Forde, and Ignacio Palacios Huerta, please - and less profiles on the players, who come across as crushing bores or neurotic twats. Honestly, we already know Lionel Messi will probably be the greatest player to have ever lived once he hangs up his boots, and we also know he's a terrible interview because he says very little of note. So why bother with the profile? Hmm...maybe Kuper's making a point: soccer isn't a game dominated by the players after all, but by the managers and the general managers pulling the strings and drawing up the formations and making the financial decisions.

Recommended for Simon Kuper completists.

I found it hard to become invested since it was simply a series of independent profiles without any overarching narrative. Each profile, however, was imminently readable.

Some interesting insights into the men who have or recently have attracted a vast amount of attention from soccer lovers. It's interesting too to see how a few of Kuper's predictions - so often rather arrogantly stated - have already failed, even in the short time since this book was published.

Or perhaps I only enjoy that because I'm irritated by his casually inserted sexism - something he himself may not even be aware of, as it's so prevalent in these soccer men, but it's annoying nonetheless.

A change of pace for me, a nice collection of commentaries dating back to the late 90's. What is interesting to me reading these is the hindsight I can look back on such as an interview with Glen Hoddle in 98 and knowing the outcome of that World Cup.

I would rate the book at 3.5/5.

No revelations, but interesting and entertaining. The perfect book to read in waiting rooms and just before bed. Made more than ordinary by the quality of the writing; clear, evocative portraits of personalities in admirably few words.

In some ways, this book was totally on target for me: a lot of coverage of English player (nationals and league), followed by the Dutch (nationals more than league), some French (nationals) and Spanish (Barcelona) players. I'm not personally enthused by Italian soccer so I didn't find their absences to feel like omissions. Asian players are basically absent from the discussion, and the South American and African players have limited representation. Kuper writes for Western European papers, so clubs and national teams in that area are over-sampled; it's a dynamic probably familiar to soccer fans.
As Kuper warns in the beginning, many soccer players just aren't that "interesting", at least in the sense they rarely share interesting insights or information during interviews. Kuper inserts some observations that I think would engage enthusiasts, mixing in strategy and team histories, but these profiles are relatively short and aren't likely to hook most readers. I can't tell from just this book if all Kuper's writing is this bloodless, or if it's the nature of the topic that doesn't stretch to draw in the reader.
To be clear, the edition I got my hands on from the library is the first paperback edition, so didn't contain the updates/additions of the later 2014 reprint.

Soccer Men is a compilation of articles written by the author about some of the players and coaches who have influenced the sport over the last fifty years. I am unsure of why certain players were omitted, most glaringly, Pele and Cristiano Ronaldo. Some portrayals are very detailed; some will leave you wanting for more. If you are unfamiliar with the player, the article may not be as interesting or the reader may not be familiar or understand the context to which the author refers; while the article on the branding and packaging of David Beckham is engrossing. At times, I felt sorry for these multimillionaire soccer players who possess a plethora of homes and women and a life that would seem enviable to the rest of us. The portrait of Wayne Rooney, almost a prisoner in his own home while not on the field, was, to me, particularly poignant and sad.

The reader is also given a glimpse of how playing professional soccer is viewed by a player--as a business--versus a fan. I have heard before, and this book reiterated for me, that it is best not to meet your idol; you will almost surely be disappointed.

I highly recommend this well-written book to anyone who wants to know more about the beautiful game and the men who play and coach it.

I'd like to give this 2.5 stars, since just 2 seems overly harsh and I want to put in right in the middle of the spectrum. I jumped on this book because I had just finished (and loved) Soccernomics, but I didn't enjoy this one as much. At times I felt like I was expected to already know about who the players and coaches are and why they are important. That was fine for people who are still playing or coaching today, but I'm a younger fan and felt a little lost at times when Kuper launched into a profile with relatively little background information.

However, in the cases where I was already familiar with the player or coach in question, I really enjoyed the additional insight. Kuper is witty and entertaining and knows a lot about the characters who have shaped the game.