Fabrice Muamba’s football dreams came crashing down last year after collapsing on the pitch suffering from a cardiac arrest, and the Bolton midfielder had to retire from football in August 2012.

Today, in conjunction with the Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA), he is warning young footballers that they should consider what to do after they are through with football. He plays in the backyard with his son, but will not return to the active pitch. He says that it would be great to come back but his health comes first.

Over 100 people leave the game every year so Muamba’s situation is not strange. According to the League Football Education (LFE) only 45% of apprentice footballers get a professional contract. In the following years many of them still drop out.

Fabrice Muamba has now been encouraging players of ages 16 to 18 to consider education, on his many visits to clubs. They need to consider their plans since only 10 – 15 will be accepted into the first teams.

The assistant PFA director of education, Oshor Williams, said that clubs have suffered even as the economy took a downward trend. Players who leave the football pitch and look for jobs find it tougher to secure these positions, and they are unable to adapt to a new career.

He goes on to say that this situation will be aggravated in future since the clubs are taking players into the team when they are aged as young as 9 years. When the player leaves the teams aged 18, half their lives may have been in elite development. Many lose their identity and also have poor self-esteem. This means that they need to redefine themselves as who they are, and not the profession that they had.

 

A recent report from four English clubs says that £175 million has been offered for each of them to play in a new Dream Football League team in Qatar along with other countries in the Gulf in 2015. Qatar will host games where Chelsea, Manchester City, Manchester United and Arsenal will be playing against foreign opponents.

Qatari organisers have planned astonishing projects that could completely change the footballing map around the world if it gains enough support. The funds are much higher than those available to Champions League teams, which has an annual prize of £595 million.

The plans, which will be released next month, will see these teams earn over four times that amount for simply accepting the invitation to compete in the matches in the Gulf. The four Premier League teams will be enticed to join the permanent DFL members, currently 16, plus eight other clubs worldwide which would compete on an invitational basis.

The DFL would take place over the next two years, according to a Times article, and the European Clubs Association has not yet replied to these proposals. It does remain unlikely that existing football teams would change their calendar or money structures even though these new offers are so much higher.

Right now, Qatar associations are considered as outsiders before they enter the 2022 Fifa World Cup, but their investment in elite teams from sovereign funds in Barcelona and other regions show a strong commitment to become a presence in football. Qatar Sports recently completed a complete takeover of the Paris Saint-Germain as well.