Get an education, it will come in handy when your football career is over

Nation media Group CEO, Joe Muganda with former international Nigeria football star JayJay Okocha when the legend paid a courtesy call at the Nation Centre on March 24, 2017. PHOTO | MARTIN MUKANGU

What you need to know:

  • Okocha is an African football legend. His skill and mastery of the game saw him play not just for his country, but lead a successful international football career in Europe, culminating in the English Premier league
  • But it wasn’t always glitz and glamour. Okocha, 43, grew up in a poor area in Nigeria; football was an escape from all the poverty surrounding him. He started to play football as an amateur at 15 years for local clubs in Nigeria, earning only 12 Naira, (Sh4) a month.
  • Though demoralising, he kept pushing towards his dream; at 16 years, he attended more football trials to showcase his talent. It paid off and he was signed on to a new club.

Few have the honour of being called greatest living footballer and named in the FIFA 100, a hall of fame of living football greats: Nigerian Footballer, fondly referred to as Jay-Jay Okocha, is one of these. Okocha is an African football legend. His skill and mastery of the game saw him play not just for his country, but lead a successful international football career in Europe, culminating in the English Premier league with Bolton Wanderers, where it was common to hear the fans chant, “so good they named him twice,” while he played.

But it wasn’t always glitz and glamour. Okocha, 43, grew up in a poor area in Nigeria; football was an escape from all the poverty surrounding him. He started to play football as an amateur at 15 years for local clubs in Nigeria, earning only 12 Naira, (Sh4) a month.

Though demoralising, he kept pushing towards his dream; at 16 years, he attended more football trials to showcase his talent. It paid off and he was signed on to a new club. At the second amateur football club, his pay increased from 12 to 120 Naira (Sh40). This was about when he quit school to pursue his dream. At the time, it was the most rational decision to make, not just for himself, but to alleviate the poverty at home.

“I looked at myself and realised where my strength lay and pursued it,” he says. But he is quick to point out that “an education is necessary when your career in football is over, that knowledge propels you even further.”

In 1990, Okocha visited a friend, Binebi Numa, in Germany, who was playing in the third division German football league in Borussia Neunkirchen club. Okocha joined Numa for a training session one morning and ended up impressing the coach, who signed him on. That was the beginning of his stellar career as an international footballer.

He has won numerous accolades: the 2003 English premier league player of the month, the 2003 and 2004 BBC African footballer of the year, seven time Nigerian Footballer of the year, 2004 African Cup of Nations best player, among others.

Nigerian Footballer, fondly referred to as Jay-Jay Okocha once named one of the greatest living footballers and inducted into the FIFA 100, a hall of fame of living football greats during his heydays. PHOTO | FILE

GREATEST HONOUR

It has been nine years since Okocha’s retirement from professional football. He is the Chairperson of the Delta State Football Association where he assists in running football in Delta State, Nigeria. He also runs the Jay Jay Okocha Foundation, which supports charities across Nigeria.

How do you ensure you sign up with the right manager?

As long as you are a good player, you will always be wanted. Research on the manager who approaches you. A good manager will be honest enough to share his track record and refer you to the players he has worked with who can provide the necessary insight into his work.

Would you encourage aspiring players to build careers locally or to move to Europe to commence their careers?

I will be honest; I would say go to Europe. If you start and end your career in Africa, you will suffer after your football career ends if you don’t specialise in another career outside of sport. We don’t pay our sports men and women well.

What other options are there for career footballers on retirement on the African continent?

We don’t have much, what we have here is becoming a coach because when it comes to analysing matches, working for television, journalists have taken over. When it comes to administrating football, they don’t see footballers as having the ability to run football because footballers are limited in terms of education. But in Europe and across the globe, they give footballers the avenue to learn while playing, so before you retire in Europe, at least 80 per cent of professional players know what other options they have on retirement.

How would you compare playing for your country to playing for your club?

Playing for your club is your career, it is your job. I don’t call it playing for your country. I call it representing your country. It is the greatest thing. It’s pride (he smiles). You will never get rich playing for your country, but you get recognition. It uplifts your stature.

If you are an international player, your rating is higher than a player who doesn’t play for his country. You have the possibility of playing in the Olympics, Africa Cup of Nations or the World Cup, and the amount of exposure is unbelievable. I would pay to represent my country. If you represent your country and do well, the rewards are never-ending. You leverage on that for a long time.

Some perceive sportsmen with dual citizenship as traitors of their birth countries or greedy. As a dual citizen of Nigeria and Turkey. what’s your response to that?

I know this is mostly a criticism to athletes, because footballers still play for their home countries, I don’t blame them at all. I think it depends on the reason you pick that second nationality. I blame our people because they don’t finance these athletes. These athletes struggle to prepare for tournaments, so why should they die for a nation when it is not willing to support them?

How can the ordinary citizen support the growth of professional football as a career?

Sometimes encouragement goes a long way. In football we always say the fans are the 12th players, they give you that extra energy. Not everyone will be able to donate cash. They think some players don’t care when we lose; we feel bad, it is our career, if we don’t do well, our job is at stake.

What does it feel like being called a living legend?

I feel fulfilled. I remember when I was still playing; I deprived myself of a lot of things. I lost many friends because I realised our lives were taking separate paths - those were hard decisions to make. Being brave to make those decisions and determine my career path was important. And now it shows that I did something good and it was worth the sacrifice.

What is your advice to any aspiring footballer?

Don’t let your dream die, believe in yourself, and don’t let anyone stop you from achieving your dreams.