Goldman's Top Minds Tackle the World Cup

As chief global equity strategist at Goldman Sachs, Peter Oppenheimer typically meets with central bankers, government officials, and other financial luminaries. A May 8 sitdown was considerably more enjoyable: Oppenheimer interviewed four Brazilian soccer stars for a special Goldman report on the World Cup, a quadrennial publication eagerly anticipated by clients and bank employees alike as a break from the usual econometric fare.

“I explained to them that I wasn’t from a normal press outlet. I work for a bank, doing research, looking at the connectivity between markets and football,” Oppenheimer says of his chat with the athletes known as Ramires, Oscar, Willian, and David Luiz. A snapshot in the report shows David Luiz, the Brazilian vice captain, with his arm around the suited, beaming banker.