How retirement can cause physical and mental changes to athletes

The FIFA World Cup. The holy grail of football that only a fortunate few will ever be able to attain. A goal that all players aim for, putting their body through gruesome training sessions, day after day for decades. At some point however, once they've achieved all that they aspired for, there comes a time to write the final chapter and close the book on their careers.

BARCELONA, SPAIN - NOVEMBER 5: Gerard Pique of FC Barcelona recently played his last game with the team. His new daily routine comes with a number of challenges that he'll need to overcome. Credit: Soccrates Images/Getty Images

That is the moment we will be discussing today in the final episode of our mini-series 'What does it take to make it to the World Cup', with the FIFA tournament in Qatar only a few days away. Everything that comes after a player chooses to end their career, the impacts of that decision on their body and their mental health but also the hole that is left in their lives are all topics that we will be touching on.

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In today's show, which is our last before the kick-off in Qatar, we are joined by former Panathinaikos defender and EURO 2004 winner with Greece, Giannis Goumas, his teammate in the legendary Greek team and former Olympiacos and Bolton Wanderers F.C. midfielder, Stelios Giannakopoulos and sports psychologist Dr. Matthew Ahlberg from Brisbane's Mental Notes Psych.

And with that, our mini-series "What does it take to make it to the World Cup?" comes to an end. But the real fun starts now, with all games of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar live on SBS On Demand. So don't forget to tune in and, as always, have fun!