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FIFA Legends
When the bright lights and noise of the crowd fades – and retirement looms – it can be a daunting time for thousands of professional footballers every year. The Next 90 aims to tackle that.
In January, 35 former professional footballers gathered for the first online session of The Next 90 – a programme designed to provide former female and male footballers with the skills, tools and confidence they need to succeed in the next stages of their lives after they have hung up their boots. The programme is organised by the FIFA Legends and their partner, the International Centre for Sports Studies (CIES).
The programme began with a welcome speech from FIFA President Gianni Infantino. “Thank you for being here with us, for embracing this project, and for taking part in such an exciting adventure: The Next 90,” he said.
“We will continue to support you on your journey.”
“When we come to the end of our careers, we become ex-teachers or former presidents. But when you retire, you don’t become ex-players as such. You go from being players to legends, which is something unique to football, as you are role models for children around the world and you have a special role to play in society. As FIFA President, I would like to thank you for everything you have done and continue to do in football and for football.”
Taking a practical approach to learning, the inaugural edition of The Next 90 comprised seven modules and ran for ten months. It came to an end with an in-person session in December 2022, at which the participants showed what they had learned during the programme and presented a final project to mark the start of their second careers. The Next 90 programme is aimed at former players with at least one international cap to their name and a good command of English, both written and spoken.
List of participants
Margaret Aka (Papua New Guinea)
Mercy Akide (Nigeria)
Abdulbaset Al Hammadi (United Arab Emirates)
Juan Pablo Ángel (Colombia)
Luke Blakely (Antigua and Barbuda)
Rachel Brown-Finnis (England)
Emma Byrne (Republic of Ireland)
Tim Cahill (Australia)
Sol Campbell (England)
Renata Capobianco (Brazil)
Gabriel Cichero (Venezuela)
Mohamed Fadl (Egypt)
Gemma Fay (Scotland)
Laura Georges (France)
Josephine Henning (Germany)
Astor Henriquez (Honduras)
Ricki Herbert (New Zealand)
Alexi Lalas (USA)
Carli Lloyd (USA)
Martin Machón (Guatemala)
Norman Maroto (Zimbabwe)
Pablo Melgar (Guatemala)
Mpenza Mbo (Belgium)
Heather O’Reilly (USA)
Patrick Paranjody (Singapore)
Romina Parraguirre (Chile)
Ricardo Pérez (Colombia)
Douglas Reed (England)
James Sangala (Malawi)
Julia Simic (Germany)
Jean Sseninde (Uganda)
Thomas Sweswe (Zimbabwe)
Sun Wen (China PR)
Ayisat Yusuf (Nigeria)