Fallen Out of Love With Football? Here Is How To Get It Back

If you have fallen out of love with football, that love probably did not just vanish.

It got buried.

Buried under noise. Buried under pressure. Buried under people talking rubbish, broken promises and results that never seem to go your way.

I know that feeling. I have been there. I walked away too early. At the time it felt logical. Now it feels like a bruise that never really fades.

So before you decide you are done with football, before you step away from something your older self would pay serious money to experience again, give me a few minutes.

Let us break down why players lose their spark, and how you can rebuild it before time runs out.

Why players fall out of love with football

You might think your situation is unique. It is not. Most players slide into the same patterns.

1. Unrealistic expectations

You told yourself a story.

• “I will be signed by 18.”

• “If I am not pro by 20, that is it.”

Then you hit those ages, nothing “big” happened and your brain quietly flipped the switch to failure mode.

2. Trial failures

You spend your own money or your parents’ money. You travel. You trial. You get told no.

Once, twice, three times. After a while, every rejection starts to feel like proof that you are not good enough, even when that is not true.

3. Politics and broken promises

Coaches and “agents” selling dreams they never intend to deliver.
Clubs saying one thing, doing another.

Each one chips away at your trust in the system and in yourself.

4. Burnout

You have been training since you were five. Now you are 17, 19, 21. Life is loud.

• Uni or TAFE

• Work

• Relationships

• Family expectations

Football used to be your escape. Now it feels like another job. The idea of another session just makes you tired.

5. Comparing yourself to “wonderkids”

You scroll and see kids in La Liga or the Premier League at 17. Lamine Yamal and co.

Your brain jumps straight to, “If I am not there, I am finished.”

You forget they are the 0.1 percent. You ignore the thousands of players who signed later, quietly, with no hype, and built real careers.

6. Trying to do it all alone

No support system. No one who really understands the path.

You are handling trials, training, money, planning, all on your own. Every setback feels heavier because you carry it by yourself.

7. Injuries and bad luck

One injury turns into two. Rehab, setbacks, missed seasons. It starts to feel like you are cursed and the game is out to get you.

There are more reasons, but the pattern is the same. Your love for the game drowns under weight that was never meant to sit on one person’s shoulders.

The important part, there are real ways out of that fog.

Why you should even listen to me

Quick context.

My name is Alan Deriard. I have been a full time football agent for eight years. In that time:

• I built one of the biggest player agencies in Australia

• I connected with more than 25 professional clubs in Europe

• I have helped players sign overseas

• I have watched hundreds of careers from both the inside and the outside

I am not saying that to flex. I am saying it because I have seen this story on repeat. Players falling out of love, quitting early, then regretting it when real life hits.

I make this kind of content so fewer of you end up sitting where I sit, looking back and thinking, “I could have gone further if I had just stayed in it longer.”

The myth that ruins careers, “I am too old”

Let us kill this one properly.

21 is not old.

Most players peak around 24 to 27. Physically and mentally.

Now, can you join my agency at 21 as a brand new project? No. The way our system is set up, that is not our entry age. But that does not mean your football life is over. It just means the pathway changes.

My biggest regret, I quit too early.

I hit 20 and realised I was not going to be some superstar wonderkid hitting first division.

Back then, if I am honest, I cared more about:

• the idea of fame

• the lifestyle

• the money

than I did about the pure football.

Once that fantasy faded, I walked away.

With hindsight, that was stupid.

I could have played in third, fourth, even fifth division for years. The level of entry into those leagues is not as impossible as people think. With proper connections and persistence, it is realistic.

Instead, I got caught thinking about:

• “I need to start my life.”

• “I should go to uni.”

• “I need a safe income.”

All valid on paper. But football has a clock. Business does not. You can start an agency at 30, 40 or 50. You cannot decide at 35 that now is the time to try to become a professional player.

That door shuts.

If I could rewind, I would give myself until at least 28 to chase any kind of contract. Even a small one. I would have been fine grinding in a lower division and building everything else later.

I do not get that chance again. You still do.

So if you still feel something when you watch a game, when you kick a ball, do not tap out at 18 or 20 just because the internet told you you are finished.

Stretch your timeline.

You have time for houses and careers and marriage. You do not have unlimited time for football.

Your biggest job now, rebuild your love for the game

Right now, if you are feeling heavy about football, your number one priority is not “get signed.”

Your priority is rebuilding your relationship with the game.

Not from pressure. Not from fear. From joy.

Players fall out of love because they suffocate themselves with outcomes.

• “I have to get signed.”

• “I cannot make mistakes.”

• “Every game decides my future.”

They forget why they started.

Think about how you play video games

When you fire up Fortnite or any game you love late at night, you are not obsessing over becoming an esports pro.

You are just:

• playing

• learning

• getting a little better every time

• enjoying the grind

Improvement becomes addictive because there is no massive pressure attached to it.

Football gets ruined when you turn it into a job in your head before the world has ever paid you a cent.

You walk onto the pitch already stressed.

• Already thinking about scouts.

• Already worrying about mistakes.

• Already carrying anxiety that kills your instincts.

The cruel part is this, the players who enjoy the process are the ones who usually end up hitting the goals. They can breathe. They play free.

I see it at every event we run.

• The kids who desperately want to be seen and validated usually crumble under pressure. They overthink everything.

• I have literally seen players throw up before sessions because of nerves.

Then there are the ones who show up loose. Bit of swagger. Confident. Not hanging their entire identity on one trial.

They play sharp. They play free. They look like they are still in love with the ball.

They are the ones coaches always circle back to.

Stop turning yourself into a robot

If the system has turned you into a safe, sideways passing robot, no wonder you are bored out of your mind.

Here is what I want you to start doing:

• In training and games, pass forward more.

• Take players on.

• Try things.

• Accept that you will lose the ball sometimes.

You will start to feel the game again when you stop trying to be perfect.

Do more pickup games.
Go and kick a ball around with mates for no reason.
Coach younger kids and let their energy remind you why the game matters.

Change your football habits so it feels like a game again, not an exam.

Most of you have spent years being drilled into safe patterns by coaches who only care about short term results. That does not need to be your whole story.

A quick reality check about pressure

Here is something you do not realise when you are young.

Almost nobody is watching you as closely as you think.

• Nobody is sitting there tracking every mistake you make.

• Nobody remembers your “bad game” for more than a day or two.

• The world is not obsessing over your career.

That is not meant to be depressing. It is freeing.

It means you can:

• relax

• experiment

• give yourself room to grow

The only person who really needs to care is you. The second you stop trying to perform for some imaginary audience, you will loosen up and play better.

Football is bigger than just “making it”

Becoming a professional footballer is incredible, but it is not the only win.

Football teaches you:

• discipline

• accountability

• how to handle pressure

• how to win, lose and come back again

• how to lead and follow

You can build a whole life in and around this game even if you never hit first division.

Look at the paths:

• coaching

• media and content

• physio or performance

• scouting and recruitment

• club operations and marketing

• agencies and player management

My agency was my Plan B. I did not realise it at the time. I simply failed at Plan A, which was becoming a pro myself, and decided the next best thing was to help others do it.

There is still pain there. When I watch average players in top leagues, I know for a fact it was never only about talent. It was about persistence, timing, exposure and refusal to quit.

If you could see the game through my eyes, you would understand how close you probably are.

There is a mountain of work in front of you, sure. But beyond that, the gap is not as big as it feels.

Give football the shot it actually deserves

You probably get three or four truly massive goals in your life. Football is one of them.

Most people never give even one of their big goals a proper shot.

If football is still in your system at all, do not half commit.

That does not mean:

• a couple of seasons

• three training sessions a week

• “see what happens”

It means, for a period of your life, you go all in.

• You train like your life depends on it.

• You improve every day.

• You chase opportunities for years, not months.

Then, if you decide to move on when you are older, you can look back knowing you emptied the tank.

Because one day you will be older.

You will sit somewhere, thinking about the kid you are now, and you will know whether you gave this dream a real crack or not.

Make sure that version of you feels proud, not sick.

You owe yourself that.