This is another episode to learn about some the African players that went broke after the retire from playing football.
The football game is a sport that is known to make some players famous and also enrich their pocket.
These players get sponsorship deal and huge salaries from their club but one way or the other find themselves in huge mess of bankruptcy.
Here are some of the African players that become famous and rich in football but went broke after they retired from it.
Emmanuel Eboué is an Ivorian former professional footballer who played as a right back. Formed at ASEC Mimosas, he moved to Europe to play for Belgium’s Beveren in 2002. He spent most of his career, from 2005 to 2011, with Arsenal of the Premier League, playing 214 games, including the 2006 UEFA Champions League Final. Later he moved to Galatasaray, where he played regularly and won five domestic honours in Turkey. Eboué made his international debut for the Ivory Coast in 2004, eventually earning 79 caps by 2013. He was part of their squads at five Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and two World Cups. Eboué told the Sunday Mirror that he is poor and homeless due to his divorce and bad investments that were under his former wife’s control.
Eric Daniel Djemba-Djemba is a Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He previously played club football in France, England, Qatar, Denmark, Israel, Serbia, Scotland, India and Indonesia. In international competition, he represented Cameroon, having appeared for his country 34 times, including at the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He was declared bankrupt following his move from Manchester United to Aston Villa in 2007.
Rashidi Yekini was a Nigerian professional footballer who played as a forward. He is all-time top goalscorer for his nation. His professional career, which spanned more than two decades, was mainly associated with Vitória de Setúbal in Portugal, but he also played in six other countries besides his own. Yekini scored 37 goals as a Nigerian international footballer, and represented the nation in seven major tournaments, including two World Cups where he scored the country’s first-ever goal in the competition. He was also named the African Footballer of the Year in 1993. Yekini, however, died a poor man after battling with dejection, and ill health in his final years. He died at age 48 after he was diagnosed with bipolar disorder and depression and often seen roaming the streets of Ibadan.
Jabu Jeremiah Mahlangu is a retired South African football midfielder who last played for Supersport United. Jabu Mahlangu grew up poor but got his big break when his talent for football gave him the life he envisioned. Mahlangu’s life of riches was short lived, though, as he used all the money on the party lifestyle. After his retirement he went broke for some time.
