Over the year, we brought you some of football’s biggest names and the biggest stories on — and off — the pitch.
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00:002024 is coming to an end and it's been another busy year for football.
00:04International tournaments galore, exciting young talents bursting onto the scene
00:09and we said fond farewells to football legends.
00:12Let's take a look back at how we covered another monumental year of the sport.
00:21Hello and welcome to Football Now from the Albeit Stadium in Alcor.
00:252024 has once again been incredible for football
00:29and with our last episode of the year, we're taking a look back at some of the best moments.
00:34Let's start right here in Qatar with the AFC Asian Cup which kicked off back in January.
00:39In what turned out to be a dramatic tournament, the Middle Eastern nations went toe-to-toe
00:43with the usual East Asian powerhouses.
00:46Qatar were crowned champions on the pitch
00:48and off it there was an acceptance that Asian football is as strong as ever.
00:52I think the elections are developing and the competition is getting tougher.
00:57We need to put in more effort and work harder
01:02to get the best results and the best performance.
01:07It was a disappointing tournament for India who crashed out at the group stage
01:11and it proved to be the final major competition for their record goalscorer Sunil Chetri.
01:16With 94 goals to his name and 151 appearances,
01:19he finished his career the fourth highest goalscorer on the global stage
01:23behind Portugal's Cristiano Ronaldo, Ali Dahi of Iran
01:27and of course Lionel Messi of Argentina.
01:30India have one of the most passionate fan bases in world football
01:33so we caught up with Sunil to get his thoughts on how the country can use that foundation
01:38to improve their results in future tournaments.
01:41I think the way I look at it is to keep qualifying for the Asian Cup,
01:44be in the first ten in Asia and keep competing.
01:47A realistic dream is to come in the first ten in Asia and stay there.
01:50I think the whole dream is to tap every talent, identify them at the right age,
01:54give them whatever they need, he or she,
01:56and then whatever we achieve we'll keep our hands up and say this is our best.
02:00As Chetri reaches the end of his career, he may well be thinking about what he wants to do after football.
02:06And as we covered on this show earlier this year,
02:08there are now more options for players post-retirement than ever before.
02:12At the Web Summit Qatar, the first tech event of its kind in the Middle East,
02:16we caught up with former Premier League midfielders Gilberto Silva and Mikel Jonobi.
02:21Silva explained how important it is for footballers to prepare for life after football while they are still playing.
02:27In the beginning when you have to do the transition from football to do some other things,
02:32sometimes it's not so easy.
02:34Life can be difficult because you spend most part of your life playing football
02:40and from one day to another everything disappears.
02:44And then you have to put your feet on the ground and start to think I need to find another way.
02:50What's good for me is just to bring my mentality as in sports to support the business
02:57because starting a new business is tough as a sport.
03:01Meanwhile, Mikel has taken a very different path since he hung up his boots,
03:05hosting his weekly podcast The Obi Wan.
03:08I love it, I love it.
03:09And it's also, I'm still, it's the closest that I am still to playing football.
03:14You know, I talk about it, I interact with the fans and that's something I never used to do while I was playing.
03:18But right now I have this platform whereby, you know, I interact with the Chelsea fans,
03:21I interact with a lot of fans all across the world and they're involved.
03:25I feel like they're involved in what I'm doing, my next chapter in life.
03:29And that's something I never used to do while playing.
03:31And it's so nice to see that the fans want to go with me to this journey, to this new journey.
03:35And like I said, I want to test myself, I want to make sure I break boundaries.
03:39There's limitless opportunity in the podcast industry and I want to take advantage of that.
03:44Playing football, I want everything, I want to make sure I do the same in my new chapter.
03:49The world of business and investing is also something that fascinates modern day footballers.
03:54It's a passion of Al-Ali SC winger Julian Draxler,
03:57who uses it to his advantage in regards to his career on the pitch too,
04:01when negotiating for transfers and new contracts.
04:04I mean, I started really early.
04:06My career was 16, 17 years old and, you know, you go to training every day,
04:11you see the locker room every day, you see the pitch every day.
04:13And one day I was like, I have to try something new.
04:16Also, you know, to occupy my head a little bit, to learn new things.
04:20Every step you take, you're going to learn more and more.
04:22And obviously a lot of players, they have agents.
04:25So you are not there all the time, but you meet very interesting people,
04:29different kinds of sporting directors, presidents of the clubs.
04:32And of course you have good conversations with them as well.
04:35So you take one part from everyone to learn for yourself.
04:39Now, did you know that Qatar's Aspartar Hospital
04:42is one of the world's most renowned sports rehabilitation centres?
04:46This year, we've spoken to their dietitians, medical teams and chefs
04:50to try and truly understand how much effort goes into looking after
04:53the overall wellbeing of a footballer.
04:55And Italian midfielder Marco Verratti told us why his diet off the pitch
05:00is crucial to how he plays on it.
05:30It's been another exciting year in the world of football.
05:52And we've had all angles covered here on Football Now in 2024.
05:56That's all we've got time for from the Al Bait Stadium in Qatar.
05:59We'll see you in 2025. Bye for now.