As a child growing up, Khabib Nurmagomedov was moulded as a fighter under the watchful eye of his father Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov. ‘The Eagle’ went on to become one of the best fighters in the world, however, his aim was to follow a path in a different sport altogether.
Growing up in Dagestan, the former champion spent a lot of his time playing soccer with his friends. ‘The Eagle’ has on multiple occasions stated that his dream was to play football professionally growing up as a child. While that did not happen, his fame and success has allowed him to meet and spend time with some of his idols in the sport. ‘The Eagle’ recent took to Instagram to share a picture of Ronaldo Nazario and Zinedine Zidane. The caption for the same said,
“nobody like them”
For the uninitiated, Ronaldo Nazario is widely regarded as one of the greatest strikers of all time in football. The Brazilian is a two-time world cup winner with Brazil. The Brazilian star scored 243 goals for club and country in 482 appearances. Ronaldo was also crowned the best player in the world on two separate occasions in 1997 and 2002.
Zinedine Zidane is also a world cup winner with France in 1998. He is a champions league winner, and won the best player in the world award once in 1998. Both men are renowned for having defined their particular positions which explains Nurmagomedov’s admiration for them. Additionally, both players played for Nurmagomedov’s favorite team, Real Madrid for a significant period of time.
With that being said, let’s take a closer look at Nurmagomedov’s love for the game and his ambitions as a child.
Khabib Nurmagomedov to accomplish his childhood dream at some point?
Following his retirement from the sport, ‘The Eagle’ is now spending time pursuing everything he could not as a fighter. The former champion spends a lot of his time attending football games all over the world and meeting his idols. After retirement, ‘The Eagle’ received offers from clubs to join them as a professional player and fulfill his childhood dream.
However, Nurmagomedov declined these offers. At this point, it does not appear that we will see Nurmagomedov play for a club and fulfil his childhood dream. However, there is a very strong chance that fans might see him participate in exhibition matches.
