So me and a friend are considering moving someplace cool where he can play football and live of that and I can play poker or something.

First country that popped into my head was Australia and since I dont have any knowledge about the australien football scene I hoped someone could help me out. If you can recommend another country that would be great to.

Lol, are you really asking about how to become a pro football player?

First, I think you should clarify which form of football do you mean. Secondly, professional football (in all forms) is a big business run by agents and managers. If you are decent enough of a player then you should already have an agent that represents you and negotiates the deals for you.

All in all I'm pretty sure that you won't get a deal with Manchester United via 2p2 Travel.

lol at just turning up anywhere and being like "hey, where do i sign up"

yah, knew this would be kinda lol, but whatever.

He have won the icelandic championship (yup lol again), played a couple of u21 games for Norway, signed by Lecce when he was 17 or something, but didnt play any games.

Was just wondering where we could look, so his agent could do some research since we dont have any clue.

The level of competition in Europe is very high as you know. In the USA there'll be muy talented latinos earning the monies. Africa is out of the question. Lots of money in Russian sports but I would not go there without a solid contract. Also, it's Russia ffs. In New Zealand there were only few fully professional players in the World Cup.

So yeah, the Socceroos (the national team) are well known in Australia and I watched some games while I was there. The level of play wasn't great, maybe something like the third level of England. So your Lecce-signed-buddy should be ok there. Wont make a fortune though.

Another option would be Japan. The J-League is quite competitive and I'm sure it'd be a nice experience.

yeah, he is not looking to get rich out of this, just travel someplace new and experience something new while playing football for a couple of months while its cold and boring in Norway.

tyty for the Japan tips, will def look into that.

Yeh you should try checking out Japan, I imaging a good european player, which it sounds like you are, would be able to make it there no problem, atleast to the extent in which you can live off.

I'd aim for America (non-Argentina or Brazil) or Asia.

it would probably be alot easier for him to get into some coaching program, then he can basically go anywhere for summer camps n ****.

I think its pointless discussing possible places to play professionally - how old is he? Im pretty sure in football if youre not signed to a club by the time youre 18 thats pretty much the end of your career.

it depends how good ur friend is..
maybe florida would be a good option for a soccer player and a poker player..
at major league soccer there is the mentioned "latin competition".. but only the worst go play there i guess..
the level is pretty low

about south america, he will not gona make enough money playing soccer

ps: im from brazil

Randomly saw this thread and just wanted to update it to show how random everything is.

When I made this thread he was playing in a norwegian 2. division team, but was not sure that football was the way to go and started studying in a school while playing.

Now he is playing in the top division and have 10 games for the national team of Norway.

Ian Wright was signed when he was 21.


If true (don't see why you would lie), that's pretty sick, what's his name?

pmed. don`t know if it is any problem, but just to be sure I don`t want this thread to pop up when his name is googled

That's awesome. It just shows that you shouldnt listen to the naysayers on an internet forum

Fyi... soccer in Australia isn't great and he would definitely be able to make it here if he's playing for Norway. If he still wants to join an A-League club I'd suggest getting his agent to send a few videos around and see if he gets any offers.

Also, out of curiosity, could you PM me his name.

Just a fun update:
Friend in OP is starting today as a striker for St. Etienne in French League 1 vs PSG

Nope

imagine if you'd say to him that he'd be playing against Zlatan and score the winner vs Lyon in 5 years. Laughable no ? Good story anyhow

LOLOL as soon as I read post #4 here I knew who he was talking about. Yeah, you could have filmed him scoring the winner against Lyon in the derby a few weeks ago and sent it to some of the Australian clubs, maybe he could get a trial or something?

So where are you in your poker and football career right now?

Tom,

Im a journalist with BBC Sport in the UK.
Have worked out who your friend is.
It would be great to chat to you about your and your friend, think it is a great story.
Would you be keen on that?

I have quit poker and quit playing soccer when I was 16 I think.

Thanks for the request, but I have no interest in stuff like that.

What a great story



http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3m...ut-en-or_sport

$1k a week playing in the Vietnamese league. restricted to 3 foreigners per team now so tougher to get a team