Influential Jewish managers such as Bela Guttman survived the Holocaust. In his new book, David Bolchover explores the great players who did not

Who was the best Brazilian player of all time? Pelé comes the answer. Argentina? Maradona or Messi. Hungary? Puskas. Holland? Cruyff. Germany? Beckenbauer. Portugal? Eusébio or Ronaldo – take your pick. France? Zidane? England? Perhaps Bobby Charlton?

What about the best Jewish footballer ever? Gotcha! That’s one to send even a group of the most historically literate Jewish football nerds into a prolonged silence. Not even a semblance of a suggestion is likely to emanate from their lips. Maybe they will break into a smile to indicate that we Jews are not very good at football, so choosing the best is probably a pointless exercise anyway, because the best would be rather bad in the broader scheme of things.