Mafia deals & fake granny deaths: Conman's 13-year pro career

Yahoo

19-07-2025

Let's get this straight: He really did it. Carlos "Kaiser" Henrique Raposo bluffed his way through professional football for 13 years without playing a single game. He never had the desire to kick the ball, but he had an (almost) endless repertoire of lies and excuses.
Carlos Kaiser was forced into the world of football - or at least that's what he claims. True or false, the Brazilian doesn't let anyone see his cards. His version goes like this: At the age of ten, an official from Botafogo discovered him during a street kick. But from then on, the "jogo bonito", the beautiful game, was over. "There used to be a transfer law in Brazil. My mother sold the transfer to a businessman who demanded a very high transfer fee, and I was forced to move from club to club, even though I didn't want to," Raposo described his reluctant career start to 'SAPO Desporto'.
Because the deals brought in a lot of money, his mother forcibly made him continue playing. The little Carlos therefore had to bury his dream of studying to become a sports teacher and resigned himself to his fate.
True or not, it gives an idea of why he later became such an extraordinary impostor. The fact is: After a short interlude at Flamengo, the reluctant one moved to Puebla in Mexico in 1979.
There he was still considered a promising talent, got his nickname "Kaiser" because he played as gracefully as the German legend. Or at least that's one version. His friend Luiz Maerovitch later claimed that the nickname was due to the Brazilian beer brand "Kaiser". That would at least fit the lifestyle of the party animal. But more on that later.
The trained striker never played a game in two years far from home. But he did get his golden ticket. The professional license, with which he returned to Brazil in 1981. It is also the starting signal for his incredible intrigues to never stand on the field.
📸 Michael Kunkel - Bongarts
For this, the Kaiser relied on his greatest strength, his charm. "He could talk so well - if you let him open his mouth once, it was over," even the friendly Brazilian legend Bebeto admitted. Contacts like these open many doors for Raposo - especially to nightclubs.
"Every night I was out in nightclubs until the early hours of the morning - from Monday to Monday. Honestly, I was never in a condition to train or play in the morning," the night owl confessed after his "career". If he was sober in the morning, the big drawer of excuses was opened.
So the cunning guy persuaded young players to knock him down. He repeatedly claimed before match days that his grandmother had died and therefore he couldn't play. He bribed sports journalists for positive headlines about him to sign up with a new club. A dentist regularly issued him certificates, which found reasons for his invented injuries.
Naturally, his employers never put up with this for long. "All the teams I played for cheered twice - when I arrived and when I left," Raposo joked aptly about his career in the British 'Sun' in 2018.
Part of his clever plan was also to sign short-term contracts. Only to immediately pretend to have muscular problems and then convince the club management to give him a contract until the end of the season, so he had time to get fit and show himself.
In 1988, however, his clean record seemed to be getting dirty. Carlos Kaiser was employed by Bangu at the time. During a game, he was sent to warm up because he was supposed to be substituted. Instead of playing a little later, he started a wild brawl in the stands.
What looked like the result of a spontaneous action was planned long in advance. Because the Kaiser knew: To have his peace in the west of Rio de Janeiro, he needed the club patron on his side. At that time, this was Castor de Andrade, a notorious mafia boss.
So after the game, the shirker sought contact and claimed that the opposing fans had slandered Andrade as a crook. He successfully sold the tumults in the stands as a defense of Andrade's honor. Instead of being thrown out, the troublemaker was rewarded with double salary and a contract extension of six months.
Until 1992, Raposo then bluffed his way through three more clubs. Then his facade began to crumble. Influential companions retired from football, technical progress exposed his fake injuries. At the age of 29, the Kaiser's journey through football ended. He will be unforgettable - and that without a single appearance.
This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.
📸 Simone Arveda - 2024 Getty Images