Carlos Kaiser: The incredible story of the Brazilian footballer who never played a game | OneFootball

He is one of the most infamous Brazilian footballers in history, but not for the reasons that you might expect.

Carlos Henrique Raposo, known as Carlos Kaiser around the world, had a 13-year career with some of the biggest professional clubs in Brazil and was friends with legendary players.

But he never once kicked a ball.

Instead, he is remembered for his antics off the field and the efforts he went to to stay on the club's books.

His story has been immortalised in the 2018 documentary titled: “Kaiser: The Greatest Footballer Never To Play Football,” a title given him by Renato Gaucho, where the now 60-year-old reflected on his incredible career.

Football was a lifestyle, not a career

Dubbed “Kaiser” because of his similar looks to German legend Franz "Kaiser" Beckenbauer, the Brazilian wanted to enjoy life off the pitch rather than on it.

He would deceive clubs into signing him, including Botafogo, Flamengo, Fluminense, and Vasco da Gama among others, gaining a reputation as a conman.

“Clubs screw so many people over, that someone had to trick them. They couldn’t fire me,” he told The Sun in 2018.

“All the teams I joined celebrated twice — when I signed and then when I left.”

“His chat was so good that if you let him open his mouth, that would be it,” Brazilian icon Bebeto said when describing his friend.

“He’d charm you. You couldn’t avoid it. That would be it.”

Once signed to a team, Kaiser used his reputation to live a party lifestyle, boasting that he had slept with more than 1,000 women.

He even pretended to be his friend and fellow Brazilian footballer, Gaucho, showing women videos of his mate scoring goals and saying that it was him.

“Every night I would be in nightclubs until the early hours of the morning, from Monday to Monday. In fact, I was never in a fit state to train or play in the morning,” he said.

“I made sure I was seen with the greatest Brazilian footballers. Just being a football player made me a magnet for women.

“I was addicted to sex, like Michael Douglas. I would sleep with at least three women a day.”

Making excuses with a notorious gangster

So that he could enjoy his life as much as possible, the Brazilian would come up with excuses along the way to get out of training and matches.

He would pay youth team players to injure him and said that his grandmother had died on several occasions.

One team even reportedly paid for a witch doctor to take a look at him, only for Kaiser to tell them he planned to stay injured, "for the rest of my life."

But the most famous excuse actually led to him being rewarded by Brazilian gangster and owner of Brazilian club Bangu at the time, Castor de Andrade.

Having been told to warm up ahead of an appearance from the bench, Kaiser jumped over the fence and started fighting with fans, resulting in him getting sent off before coming on as a substitute.

He then explains what happened following the match in his documentary.

“Castor de Andrade comes into the changing room,” he says, as quoted by The Sun.

“When he comes up to me I say, 'God has taken both my parents away, but gave me another father who they accused of being a crook. So I lost it and went for them (the crowd).

“But don’t you worry because my contract is up in a week and I’ll be off. Then he called the supervisor and said, 'Double Kaiser’s contract and extend it for 6 months'.”

And he was not just in it for himself, with Kaiser’s teammates all remembering him fondly.

“He was always willing to do favours for a player,” World Cup-winning captain Carlos Alberto Torres said.

He would get them into nightclubs and would also bring women back to the hotel for his teammates.

Consequently, he was protected by his squad whenever an owner wanted to get rid of him.

“Whenever a club president wanted to get rid of me, the players would get together and ask them not to because I brought a lot of value to the club. I bonded the group together,” Kaiser said.

Now working as a personal trainer, exclusively for women, he can live life off the pitch without any distractions on it.