“The British author Simon Kuper was born in Uganda in 1969 and grew up in London and Leiden, the Netherlands. He is currently a Paris-based sports columnist for The Financial Times. His book “Football Against the Enemy” won the William Hill Sports Book of the Year award for 1994. He is also the author of “Ajax, the Dutch, the War.” His most recent book, “Soccernomics: Why England Loses, Why Germany and Brazil Win, and Why the U.S., Japan, Australia, Turkey — Even Iraq — Are Destined to Become the Kings of the World’s Most Popular Sport,” written with the economist Stefan Syzmanski, was published in the United States in early November.” (NYT)