{"id":816,"date":"2025-10-17T11:34:02","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T09:34:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/goalmzansi.com\/?p=816"},"modified":"2026-01-28T14:27:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-28T12:27:04","slug":"maela-lifts-lid-on-early-retirement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/goalmzansi.com\/index.php\/2025\/10\/17\/maela-lifts-lid-on-early-retirement\/","title":{"rendered":"Maela lifts lid on early retirement"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Former Orlando Pirates captain Innocent Maela recently explained why he retired from professional football at the age of 32 and at the same time, gave insights into his future plans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During his time with the Soweto giants, Maela bagged two Nedbank Cup titles, while claiming four MTN8 crowns along the way as he played a starring role under former Bucs mentor Jose Riveiro.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maela has now hinted at staying in football, most notably on the administrative aspect of the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI think for me, retiring at the time that I retired, it was the right time,\u201d Maela said at his retirement dinner, as per <a href=\"https:\/\/farpost.co.za\/2025\/10\/15\/maela-reveals-why-he-retired-at-32-and-whats-next\/\">FARPost<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhen I was searching for that spark, I couldn\u2019t find it anymore,I tried my best to help the team, and I felt it was time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIt\u2019s been three months, and I\u2019ve been enjoying my time. When people ask me that question, I always reply with the same answer. I\u2019m still enjoying my time. Let me own my time for now, and let\u2019s see how the future unfolds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFootball is my life. I\u2019ve played football ever since I could remember, and I\u2019m definitely planning on staying [in the game], be it coaching or administration. But if I were to choose right now, I would definitely choose admin rather than being a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Former Orlando Pirates captain Innocent Maela recently explained why he retired from professional football at the age of 32 and at the same time, gave insights into his future plans.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":817,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[55,56],"class_list":["post-816","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","tag-betway-premiership","tag-orlando-pirates"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Maela lifts lid on early retirement - GoalMzansi.com<\/title>\n<meta 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