COVID-19 Pushes African Soccer Players into Financial Crisis and Career Changes

In the meantime sheltered from want, today, he finds himself with nothing and fearful for the future. The Moroccan player from WST Témara says he was ruined by the pandemic. He explains that many players from the Maghreb and Africa have fallen, overnight, into precariousness, unable to provide for their own and their loved ones’ needs. Awaiting the resumption of matches, some are in full professional reconversion. They are improvising as electricians or cobblers, reports Le Monde.

Ali Fanidi admits to having gone through uncomfortable situations, he who was used to earning 500 euros a month. "I contacted the union, which paid me the equivalent of one month’s salary and I was able to count on the help of a few friends," said the 28-year-old player, who explained that at the end of the lockdown his club paid him 1,000 euros so that he could pay off his debts.

He says he has suffered badly from this moment "I felt abandoned and, psychologically, I went through difficult times. Today, I no longer have a club, little money ahead of me and the hardship continues," reports the same source.