Controversial on, and equally controversial off the pitch. Eric Cantona, an iconic footballer, and former Manchester United player quitted football in 1997, when he was only 30, and engaged in various projects since. In fact, Wikipedia describes United’s legend as an ‘actor’, as he pursued the entertainment industry since retiring, but also continued to cooperate with Nike on sports commercials. He also stated that he loves football but, in time, he was tired of getting up early in the morning, cutting on boose and social life until early hours. His off-the-field presence was just as explosive as when he was in Manchester. Cantona called for a social revolution against the banks in 2010 and encouraged customers of the major retail banks to withdraw their money. (1.23) CAMEROON (6.00) ETHIOPIA (20.0)In 2012 he began trying to gather the 500 signatures from elected officials necessary for a bid for the French presidential election, in order to draw support for the homeless charity and campaign group Emmaus. And now, he has spoken about the World Cup in Qatar. And it doesn’t sound good at all. “To be honest, I don’t really care about the next World Cup, which is not a real World Cup for me. In the last decades, you had a lot of events like the Olympic Games or World Cups in countries that are emerging – like in Russia or China. But Qatar – it’s not the country of football. I’m not against the idea of hosting a World Cup in a country where there is a possibility to develop and promote football, like in South Africa or the United States in the 90’s. Football is the most popular feminine sport in the United States, there is a lot of South American immigration, and a big potential for the sport to develop. In fact, now in the United States, the sport which has the most licensed people is football. But in Qatar, the truth is that there is no such potential. There is nothing. It’s only about money I think. It’s only about money and the way they treated the people who built the stadiums, it’s horrible. And thousands of people died. And yet we will celebrate this World Cup” said Cantona to Sportsmail. Ouch.
