Planning For Retirement Starts While You’re Still Playing

What does it mean for a young player to be scouted at the age of 17 and play professional football at that same age? This is a conflicting question as I keep asking myself what do youngsters playing professional football do when they are not training?

Do fellow young professional football players dropout of school as soon as they make it to the PSL? Do youngsters continue to go to tertiary even though they play professional football? The rate of qualified football players in the PSL is shocking and one wonders what do players do when they retire?

Living in the township, I have seen guys who used to be my heroes rise and fall and I wonder if they were ever taught the importance of investment? The importance of education? The importance of preparing for retirement? It kills me that SA footballers end up broke and their assets repossessed when they retire from football and they start to hang around corners. This is an alert that SAFA needs to open up football academies not only for the youth but football academies to train young and upcoming coaches. Retired players can also train here in SA than to fly overseas for coach training. This will allow SA to have a local football coach who understands our style of play and carry the national flag on his or her shoulders.