Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana legend Siphiwe Tshabalala has been granted a rare chance to participate in the FIFA Player Executive Programme, which seeks to tackle the issues players face after retirement.
The program features seventy male and female former footballers from across the globe, including the likes of David Luiz, Thiago Silva and Fernandinho (Brazil), David Ospina (Colombia), Guillermo Ochoa (Mexico), Rodrigo de Paul (Argentina), Thiago Alcantara (Spain), Hayley Raso (Australia) and Elena Linari (Italy).
The football career is short, several players experience financial difficulties at the end of their playing days as they try to find other sources of income.
In South Africa, the likes of Junior Kanye, Lerato Chabangu, and Benedict Vilakazi make up the long list of retired individuals who faced hardships, though Kanye and Vilakazi seem to have managed to turn things around.
Some players have had their careers cut short due to injuries and health complications, and that can affect their mental welfare and disturb their source of income. Sergio Aguero was forced to hang up his boots at 33 years old due to a heart problem.
Locally, following his move from Amakhosi to Orlando Pirates, goalkeeper Brilliant Khuzwayo retired while he was at the peak of his career because of a persistent ankle injury at the age of 29.
The programme, which will place a special emphasis on mental well-being, recognises that a football player’s career is short, is always at risk from injury and that only a few achieve financial independence during that time. At the same time, having dedicated their lives to their football careers and their performance, few are prepared for what comes next.
The course emphasises that retirement is not the end but instead the beginning of a new chapter and that a player’s involvement in the sport does not have to end the moment they hang up their boots, Inside.fifa.com reported.
Tshabalala had a successful football career at Chiefs, and while representing the national team, he scored an unforgettable goal for Bafana against Mexico during the opening match of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino welcomed Shabba, “Welcome to the first edition of the FIFA Players Executive Programme. It is a privilege to have you on board as we embark on a journey to shape the future of football- the game that unites, inspires, and drives us all forward.
