A minor mistake, a seemingly trivial wrong decision, is enough to lose the chance of success. These footballers learned about it extremely painfully. Some fell from the very top, others did not even have time to spread their wings. They have one thing in common - they lost their careers. Why did they have to leave the field forever?
Big money, successes, fame and adoration of the fans. At first glance, this is what a professional footballer does in everyday life. But the life of an athlete does not always resemble a fairy tale. More than one promising career was suddenly interrupted by an injury, addiction, illness or… lack of parental support. Get to know the stories of footballers who had to hang their shoes on a peg and find themselves in a new reality.
God Who Adds
Diego Armando Maradona today is considered one of the greatest footballers ever. However, the story of his life is a series of ups and downs, brilliant plays, but also cheats in front of the whole world. Even now, more than 20 years after leaving the field, the former athlete arouses extreme emotions. Considered by many as the "god of football", he ended his international career in an atmosphere of a doping scandal.
The 1994 World Cup was the last chance for Maradona to shine brightly. The 34-year-old footballer returned to his homeland after many turbulences. But he no longer had the same form as before. At the World Cup in the USA, he only played in two games, because drugs were detected in his urine after the match with Nigeria. This is how in his autobiography he recalls this moment:“ My world has collapsed. I didn't know what to do, where to hide ”.
Diego Maradona was at the top, but his drug addiction led him to a painful fall.
As he later admitted, drugs had accompanied him from the age of 24. "It was the biggest mistake in my life," he confided to the media. But he didn't stop taking drugs. In 2000, he nearly died from a cocaine overdose. Today, despite his many successes, is mentioned more often for his antics and addiction than brilliant field play.
"A footballer is not a profession"
To become a professional, you need to spend several years training. In the case of the youngest players, parents play a very important role, who, with their support and help, can contribute to the development of talent - or to its loss.
This was the case with Norbert Klopp, a German footballer who later father Jürgen Klopp. As a teenager, he dreamed of becoming a professional goalkeeper . He was 191 centimeters tall, fast and agile, so the coaches quickly saw his potential. He played for the local club VfR Kirn, one of the best teams in the region.
In 1952 he was invited to test in Kaiserslautern. As German sports journalist Raphael Honigstein describes in his recently published book "Jürgen Klopp. We make noise, "it was quite an event for the young boy:" "I was impressed," the 18-year-old later told his family friend Ulrich Rath. » I found myself on the pitch with all these legendary players…« ”.
However, despite his youthful enthusiasm and undoubted talent, the teenager suddenly withdrew from the game to find employment ... in the Müller &Meirer leather goods factory. In the early 1950s, more than half of Kirn's population of 5,000 worked in tanning. Kuśnierz earned 250-300 marks a month. It was a very good salary at the time.
Was it plain greed behind Norbert's decision? At that time, as a footballer, he did not have much money. From a household budget point of view, it was a reasonable choice. However, the future father of Jürgen Klopp did not give up his dreams of his own free will . He was persuaded to do so by his dad, who insisted that his son find a "proper job". What would he have achieved if he had fought for his career? We'll never know that.
Dog racing and teletext
Living in the light of flashlights and constant pressure from fans - not all footballers can cope with such a burden. It happens that they escape into the world of stimulants and addictions. Young players, signing their first professional contracts, suddenly get large sums of money on their account with which ... they have nothing to do . Some, in search of adrenaline, direct their steps to the casino or bookmaker to waste a fortune.
This is what Paul Merson - an English footballer, a longtime player of Arsenal London - did from the beginning of his career. He first appeared at the bookmaker when he was still a teenager. When he became a professional, he did not quit. Merson was so addicted that he spent his days gambling. Locked up at home, bet on dog races on the phone and then nervously checked the teletext results.
In 1995, gambling, alcohol and drugs put Paul Merson's career at Arsenal in a thread.
Nothing could stop him from standing up - not even his own wedding. In his autobiography he reports:
Lorraine and I got married exactly halfway through the 1990 World Cup. (…) [The Scots] were to play against Costa Rica, which had a rating of 2 to 7, and very excited, I ordered my best man to stake £ 500 on Scotland. I was really looking forward to this match. And in the evening, sitting on the edge of the marriage bed, I watched Scotland lose 0:1 (...). This day was going to be the happiest day for Lorraine and mine but I ended it very disgusted.
Although Merson won the most important trophies and played for the national team, he had huge debts after the end of his career. He also ended up in rehab because apart from gambling, he also became addicted to drugs and alcohol.
Talent buried in the greenhouse
Sometimes a series of unfortunate events is enough for a player who promises to be a great player to remain just an unfulfilled talent.
In 1986, a previously unknown 17-year-old Wayne Harrison appeared in the British team Oldham Athletic. He immediately made a sensation among observers and scouts and after only 6 matches was bought by Liverpool FC for a staggering (for those times) sum of £ 250,000 . This made him the most expensive teenage player in the world.
However, bad luck soon began to haunt the young athlete. Harrison rubbed himself close to death in an accident in a greenhouse. He almost bled out due to the long wait for the ambulance. Then he began to suffer more and more knee injuries. In total, he was on the operating table 23 times .
Wayne Harrison's transfer from Oldham Athletic to Liverpool was paid a record - at that time - £ 250,000.
His career was finally cut short by the Reds 'game against Bradford City when he collided with the opponents' goalkeeper and severed his knee ligaments. He left the field at just 22 and took a job as a truck driver. It was not the end of his misfortunes. He developed pancreatic cancer and died before his 47th birthday.
Reluctant winger and drunk goalkeeper
The history of Polish football also knows tragic and sad cases of broken careers. Stanisław Terlecki, a genius left winger, never fully developed his potential due to ... mismatched language and conflicts with the authorities.
Terlecki made his first steps in Stal Warszawa. Then he moved to Gwardia, to land in ŁKS in 1975. Even then, was considered one of the most talented Polish players . A year later, he made his debut for the national team. He dreamed of going to the world championship in Argentina, but in the last league match with Polonia, Bytom suffered a knee injury. Despite the quick rehabilitation, Jacek Gmoch did not call the young footballer to the tournament.
Terlecki stayed in the country. Embittered, during the conversation in the TV studio before the inaugural match between the Polish national team and West Germany, he did not take his words into account. Without thinking he bellowed: "If the world is the world, Germany will not be a brother for a Pole" . It was the first preview of his later troubles caused by ill-considered statements.
Stanisław Terlecki was considered one of the best Polish footballers. Despite this, he was not able to play for the national team that was experiencing its golden era in the 70s and 80s.
His career in the squad ended in 1980 after the famous "Okęcie scandal". Together with Zbigniew Bońek and Władysław Żmuda, he interceded for the goalkeeper Józef Młynarczyk, who got drunk before departing for the training camp in Italy. The Polish Football Association suspended all four as a penalty. They were excluded from playing for the national team.
Three of Terlecki's friends pleaded, hoping for a leniency of the "sentence". Only Stanisław, known for his opposition views, did not apologize. And he has never played for the national team again . In 1983 he went to the United States, where in Cosmos New York he ran on the pitch together with Pele, Franz Beckenbauer and Johan Neskeens. Three years later he returned to the country, but the path to the national team was closed to him.
German kamikaze becomes coach
Thanks to his father, Jürgen Klopp was in contact with sports from an early age. His parent instilled in him a love for football, so the German decided to devote himself to this discipline.
He started his career playing in local clubs, and did not present himself to a wider audience in 1990, when at the age of 23 he made his debut in the 2nd Bundesliga in the colors of FSV Mainz. Klopp was a player for the club for 11 years, starting as a striker, then a midfielder, and finally playing defense.
After several unsuccessful matches in 2001, the team was in danger of relegating to a lower league. The activists hired more trainers, but none of them could find a way to revive the team. Desperate CEOs had a crazy idea . They decided that the coach should be… their player. “» Kloppo will be our coach «. Everyone at the table burst out laughing. They couldn't stand it. The next day they started making fun of us in the newspapers. " - this is how the journalists' reaction to the announcement of this decision is described in Honigstein in his book.
Everyone was surprised, even Klopp himself. Years later, he stated that that decision was not very well thought out. " I would compare accepting this job to the kamikaze mission "Klopp admitted ten years later in an interview with spox.com. "I only had one question in my head:" What can we do to stop losing? " He reluctantly emptied his locker and moved to the coach's office.
As time has shown, it was one of the best decisions in Jürgen Klopp's life. The former footballer quickly found a common language with the team and in the 2003/2004 season he was promoted to the 1st Bundesliga. This was followed by a streak of success with Borussia Dortmund and a move to one of England's best teams, FC Liverpool. As you can see, sometimes one broken career can lead to another - this time successful.