Joao Félix opens up about the moment he thought about quitting football: “I don’t want to play anymore, I’m fed up”
Joao Félix is the protagonist of the latest episode of the Nude Project podcast. The Portuguese forward sat down with the clothing brand’s microphones for a relaxed conversation in one of the most popular online spaces in our country. During the over an hour and a half chat, the still FC Barcelona player – and we’ll see what happens next season – talked about all topics.
He was clear about his desire to stay with the Blaugrana team during Hansi Flick’s first year in charge, although he admits it’s not solely up to him. Before his sporting career in Barcelona and Madrid, Joao was at Benfica, a club he joined “because of his brother” and that prevented him from quitting football after two tough years.
Joao Félix and the reason he wanted to quit football
The lives of footballers are full of luxury, yes. But to reach the elite, many sacrifices have to be made in their lives. In Joao’s case, he acknowledges that the hardest part was having to move away from his family at 11 years old. Born in Viseo, the attacker moved to Porto in 2010 to carve out a place in the blue and white team. From a young age, the Portuguese already stood out, but a natural factor like human growth weighed him down in a stage of his life.
“I had always been the reference of the teams I was in before, but there were two years where I started playing less because people grew and I stayed the same,” he confesses on the mentioned program. “When you’re 13 or 14, some are very tall, and others are very short. I was a meter and a half tall and skinny. If I show you photos, you’ll laugh,” the player jokes.
During those two years, Joao lost importance in the teams he was in because he didn’t play as much. “I got a little discouraged and almost quit football,” he admits. “I told my father, ‘I don’t want to play anymore, I’m going to play handball, I want to leave here. I’m going to go back to my city, to my house, close to you. I don’t care, I’ll play for the city team, handball, or whatever, but I’m fed up.'”
The opportunity at Benfica “because of” his brother
Interestingly, his brother’s football talent saved Joao’s career, and he regained his excitement for the sport by wearing the Os encarnados shirt.
“Interestingly, the Benfica situation came about because of my brother, they wanted him, and I came in the package. When I was 15, I was going to play for my city team, which is like the 3rd RFEF here, or less. And that season, Benfica wanted my brother, who has always been very good. My father said, ‘Look, Joao is leaving Porto and wants to play in his city,'” the athlete recounts. “And, well, I was bundled in, I went to Benfica with my brother, almost because of him, and everything worked out well,” he explains.
Interestingly, that summer Joao ‘shot up.’ He grew about “15 centimeters,” which brought him back to the forefront of Portuguese promises. “In football, when you’re young, the strongest and tallest always have an advantage. Not now, because mentality, intelligence, and quality eventually level out. But there you fall behind, and that transition discourages a lot of people, some even quit football. You shouldn’t get discouraged, you have to keep fighting, and that’s it,” Félix says on the podcast.