This is a story about passion.
Uuhhmm, okay, it's actually about passion, and also other things like fishes and boats
and even nets.
The point is, in this video, we talk about a man who went from winning the biggest trophies
in club football with Real Madrid, to being a fisherman.
Now you might be asking yourself "how did he go from playing with the best footballers
in the world, to catching fish with old men?"
Well join us to find out how that happened, as we take you through the story of the man.
The former Portuguese left back, Fabio Coentrao.
Coentrao was born in 1988 in Vila do Conde in Portugal.
This was a small town, and well, it was also what you would describe as a poor one.
In this town, the main occupation of the residents was fishing, and well, needless to say that
his father was also a fisherman.
It was in this same town that he spent his childhood, and at the age of 13, his family
moved to another country.
Now, usually when families relocate, you would expect them to take all their children along.
But surprisingly that wasn't the case for him, as they left him behind in Portugal to
stay with his aunt.
Now, we understand if you wish to judge his parents at this point, but they really didn't
mean any harm.
Matter of fact, they only left him behind because he was already at the academy of Rio
Ave, a football club in his hometown.
And well, they felt it was better for him to stay behind, as they believed he would
turn out to be a great footballer.
That decision finally paid off a few years later in 2005, as he finally played his first
game for the club.
However, two years later, he was off to Benfica where he linked up with players like Angel
Di Maria and David Luiz.
Then 4 years after joining Benfica, he moved on to Real Madrid in 2011.
His time at the club started well and he even played a key role in that famous La Decima
win in 2014.
But it all went downhill from that point, as he started battling with injuries.
Now, at this point it would be interesting to note that Coentrao spent 7 years in total
as a Madrid player, officially.
However in that time, he played only 106 games in total for the club.
This was because he spent a huge part of the time either injured, or out on loan.
The final of those loan spells was at Sporting Lisbon in the 2017/2018 season.
And it was towards the end of that loan spell that the Sporting Lisbon players and staff
were attacked by their own fans who believed the club had failed in that season.
Now, after leaving Lisbon at the end of that season, he was now faced with a tough decision.
Was he to stay at Madrid and risk being left on the bench?
Or was he to find a new club where he could get playing time?
Well, your guess is as good as ours.
He opted to finally leave Madrid and signed permanently for his hometown club.
The same club where he started his career, Rio Ave FC.
Now, we think that all through his years of playing football at the biggest stage, he
still dreamt of becoming a fisherman.
And after two years of being so close to home, he finally decided to call it quits with football
at the age of 34, in order to pursue that dream.
Just to tell you how serious he had always been about it, he already bought his first
boat while he was at Madrid.
And now, he has gone on to buy even more boats, and also employs dozens of people.
Well, we know it may not earn him hundreds of thousands every week like football, but
he is very much happy with this new career.
And really, isn't that all that matters?
Okay, in one more interesting twist, it appears football and fishing aren't the only things
he is able to do.
Here's what we mean.
Once upon a time while on holiday, he received a distress call that a small fishing ship
nearby had crashed and was sinking.
Unfortunately, that ship had no lifeboats, so the crew members on-board were at risk
of drowning.
On hearing this news, he directed some of his men to go find that ship and rescue the
men.
And they did just that, thereby saving the entire crew.
So he really went from fisherman to superhero real quick.
Guess now we wouldn't be so wrong to call him "the Aquaman".
Well, now that you've heard all of that.
Do you think he should have kept playing for a little longer?
Do you believe he made the right choices?
Do share your thoughts with us in the comments section.
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Catch you next time, bye