It's a common criticism these days - footballers care more about being famous than actually ​playing football.





Whilst this may be slightly harsh on the majority of professional footballers, the money and public interest in the beautiful game has unarguably rocketed certain players to superstardom that goes beyond the time they spend on the pitch.





One man in particular was so desperate to realise his dream that he created a superstar alter-ego to con teams in to signing him - and enjoyed a career spanning over two decades whilst barely kicking a ball.

Carlos Henrique Raposo played as a striker for 9 different teams across 24 years...



He ended his career with:



🎯 Assists: 0

⚽ Goals: 0 pic.twitter.com/lXztpJPbZE — GeniusFootball (@GeniusFootball) May 30, 2017

For 24 years, Carlos 'Kaiser' Henrique was a professional footballer, at Brazilian giants such as Botafogo and Fluminense and teams in Mexico and the USA. However, he managed this feat without ever playing a competitive match - by creating a number of cunning ruses to help his cause.





Towards the beginning of his infamous career, Henrique showed signs of some talent and had a trial for Puebla FC, a then Mexican First Division side. He even believed that he scored a free-kick in his early footballing days.





However, Carlos failed to make a lasting impression on the coaches at the club, and was released having never played a match for the side.

“He wanted the cake,” says former frontman Mauricio de Oliveira Anastacio as reported by ​FourFourTwo, who was with the Kaiser at Rio team America.





“He wanted to be in the middle of the footballers, he wanted to be considered a footballer, but he didn’t want the responsibilities of a footballer.”





'Kaiser' would go on to prove this statement to be wholeheartedly true.





With the help of famous football friends he made around Rio, Carlos secured a three-month trial contract with Botafogo that gave them the option of playing him in league matches. Due to his natural athleticism, nobody questioned his integrity.

@tvdellosport Carlos Henrique Raposo (1963) detto Carlos Kaiser. Genio assoluto del trasferimento(di soldi in tasca)! pic.twitter.com/94IN4dvXCQ — LucaBaraBBaColaiacov (@TriplaBeta) July 8, 2015

As his first match approached, Carlos asked for the first ball played to him to be played a number of yards ahead of him. He chased it and subsequently tumbled to the ground clutching his hamstring, insisting he had torn it. As medical technology was not as advanced as nowadays, he was sent to the physio. Cleverly, he would remain on the payroll whilst he received the necessary treatment, meaning that Henrique remained a Botafogo player.





Henrique also pretended to be speaking English to a number European clubs on his mobile phone, in front of his team-mates and the Botafogo staff. This didn't last long however, as the club doctor fluent in English and realised Kaiser wasn’t able to speak English at all.





He left Botafogo and used his footballer friends to secure him a new contract, this time at Flamengo. He would go on to use the same fitness to injury table routine he was able to gain months of employment and fame from the club before moving on again - the sign of a great con man.

The stories of how the man nicknamed 'Kaiser' managed to steal a living as a footballer are the stuff of legend. Perhaps most famously, he took every single football on the pitch during a training session with French side Ajaccio and kicked them to his adoring spectators whilst proclaiming how much they meant to him. The team had to complete physical training for the rest of the session as there were no footballs left to play with - but Henrique escaped displaying his footballing ineptitude.





With a career that spans over twenty years, Carlos Henrique will go down in history as one of football's greatest con men.





Just don't expect to be able to pull off this ruse yourself any time soon!

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