Austin Nwabunike Okocha is without doubt one of the most talented
players ever without any doubt.Today he is in retirement and enjoying it
with his Wife and grown up kids.In this Interview he discloses how he
is enjoying retirement as well as his very humble background plus how he
met his Wife and other closely guarded secrets.
ENJOYING RETIREMENT:
I
must say I can only be grateful to God for having such a wonderful
Career without any serious injuries and I must say that I am enjoying
myself a bit more now because it was not easy to be on top of your game
for so many years, it took a lot out of your body physically now I am
relaxing and enjoying what I have labored for.
HUMBLE BACKGROUND
I
was just like any other poor kid growing up in Nigeria, from a very
humble Family, you know then we could only ask for three square meals a
day and nothing more, and for me then that was the ultimate, food to
eat, never thought about nothing else, never thought about getting toys
or whatever indulgences children of rich homes get, because we were not
that rich, it was just survival, so I grew up just like any other kid in
Nigeria whereby food was just the only thing we cared about and of
course we got to work for your mum, my mum had a shop so I used to work a
little bit to sell things after school to keep the family going and at
the end of the day I guess the game of football changed all that.
LIFE AFTER RETIREMENT
I
actually started doing business even before retirement, because it's
always good to be a step ahead of others, you do not have to wait until
you stop playing football before thinking of what to do after
retirement, it's always good to know where you are heading to, I never
thought of being a Coach after retiring, I never liked being a Coach
because of the pressure that Coaches go through daily, but aside from my
business I will always remain in football as a Fan, will always try to
help the youths to give them a guideline because I think our youth
system is really poor, we don't really have very good programs for the
youths, I will love to do a lot in helping the youths.
AVOIDING SCANDALS
For
me it was clear, either you make it, either you bless the talent that
God have given you or you waste it, so for me it was a simple decision,
stay on the right track, maximize your opportunities, and get the best
out of your talent because it will be easy for anyone to say I gave my
best but he or she made me do it, you have to look at yourself first and
once you can accept any decision that you take in your life that is
your responsibility, I think that's the biggest step in being successful
and I think God helped me as well because sometimes thinks might happen
but I will say I was very lucky to have avoided all those stuff but of
course getting married on time helped me to settle down and increased my
level of responsibilities so when you remember or when you think about
responsibilities you know that you are not on your own anymore, you now
have people looking
Up to you and people to look after, you just have to behave yourself and be focused.
EXCHANGING MARITAL VOWS
Well,
I knew my onset that my choice of a Marriage partner was not a mistake
from the onset. It was not really a difficult choice for me to chose who
to marry like most people thought, I knew if I get married early it was
going to be an advantage to make me even more organized, to be more
successful, like the Bible saying goes that he who finds a wife finds a
good thing, so for me it was a big blessing indeed to have gotten
married when I did.
Choosing
a life partner was not a challenge for me, it definitely was not, it
was not difficult,, because when I met my wife, I just knew she was the
one for me, for me there was no single doubt in my mind that I will want
to live the rest of my life in Nigeria and come back home, so, it was
just too clear that I was going to marry a Nigerian and for me then, I
wasn't really looking at just the beauty alone, I was looking at the
character, somebody I think will manage a good home.
AUSTIN OKOCHA SUPER EAGLES STATISTICS
Full International Cap: 70
Full International Goals: 15
International Debut: vs Cote D'Ivoire 1-2, World Cup Qualifier Abidjan May 2, 1993
Last international Game: vs Cote D'Ivoire February 7, 2006, African Cup of Nations, Alexandria
