Due to the nature of the sport, many footballers find themselves in nasty financial situations after they retire. Also, a lack of education and proper financial planning has been the end of many once glorious players.
Former Arsenal defender and Ivorian player, Emmanuel Eboue is now one of them after he narrated how he lost all his assets and was on the brink of suicide.
The once popular player has now been reduced to sleeping on his friend’s floor, washing his clothes by hand and hiding from bailiffs.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with Mirror, Eboue spoke on how he’s thinking of committing suicide.
“I want God to help me. Only he can help take these thoughts from my mind.” he said
Eboue, currently unable to play football because of ill-health, says he has been pushed to the brink.
A lot of his problems was caused by his ex-wife Aurelie who was awarded all of their assets. He had to hide from cops and bailiffs after being ordered by a judge to transfer his remaining Enfield home to his wife.
Not only did he lose his wife and assets, he also lost his 3 kids, who he has not seen since June, his grandfather Amadou Bertin who raised him to cancer and his brother N’Dri Serge to a bike accident.
Eboue said: “I can’t afford the money to continue to have any lawyer or barrister. I am in the house but I am scared. Because I don’t know what time the police will come. Sometimes I shut off the lights because I don’t want people to know that I am inside. I put everything behind the door. My own house. I suffered to buy my house but I am now scared. I am not going to sell my clothes or sell what I have. I will fight until the end because it is not fair.”