The smuggler, the shepherd and the Trophy

The Trophy… The Winners’ Trophy of the FIFA Football World Cup. 

A symbol… and… an idol. Throughout history maybe the Ark of the Covenant was the last object to have had such extraordinary power, fame and influence. Its value? Immeasurable. One of the world’s most valuable, most well-known and currently most sought golden statuettes. 

But then why does this gleaming, golden Trophy end up tucked away in a cave in Montenegro? What is David Beckham, or rather a man his spitting image, doing on the stage of the Bellagio in Vegas? And why does he steal – with the assistance of Oprah Winfrey - the world’s most valuable football trophy?  What are Jarko, the simple Montenegrin shepherd, his Albanian watch smuggler friend, Tarek, and Shkodran, the émigré and popular hot dog seller of a Queens football stadium, doing in New York? How does Beno the sheep, who has found eternal peace, become a part of historical heritage in Circus Maximus?  Why does Rome’s international airport become the scene of the most important fan fiesta of the Brazilian World Cup? How does football’s pure gold trophy end up in the kitchen of a group of Harlem drug dealers and their Turkish taxi driver friend?  What are Switzerland’s best private detectives, the “problem solving” Twins, doing in the locked janitor’s room of an office building in Atlanta? How long does it take to drive a purple ’86 Chevy from New York to Brazil? How do the world’s… most dangerous herd of sheep, most sought golden statuette, most gorgeous capoeira team and a group of bandits with Brazil’s stinkiest breath, end up in a roadside rest area near Rio? And is it possible to hold a World Cup Final and a trophy ceremony without the original idol… without the golden Trophy?

A book… which has sold more than 2 million characters around the world!

A book… recommended by the “League of Superheroes”:

“The world’s most famous idol, the world’s most absurd adventures, and all the idiocy in the world, all in one book.”

                                                                         - Captain America, Superman, Batman and

                                                                         Spiderman /sorry, but Ironman was out of town/

Follow our protagonists on an incredibly adventurous journey around half the world – all the way from a Montenegrin mountain village to the World Cup Final in Rio – and you will find the answers to all the seemingly chaotic and incoherent questions!

“It is better to travel well than to arrive”

                                                - Buddha