Gomes Explains Retirement Decision – iDiski Times

South African referee Victor Gomes has explained why he decided to retire from the beautiful game at the age of just 40.

Gomes turned 40 last week and confirmed his retirement to Robert Marawa earlier this week, calling it quits on a career that started in 2008 after representing South Africa at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

With many left wondering why Gomes hangs up his whistle at a comparable young age for referees, the South African insisted it is time for him to focus on his family and give back to football in other capacities.

“That eight-hour flight from Doha direct gave me a lot of time to think,” he said on Marawa Sports Worldwide.

“I’ve discussed this with my family and my wife’s always been my pillar of strength, the support structure at home is very important.

“If I am where I am today it’s because of her and my kids. We discussed this a while back already and I looked at what I had achieved.

“I looked at my ambition, I looked at my goals. I’ve basically done every single final there is to be done in Africa. So in terms of that I knew that the African soil is done for me.

“I knew that I’ve achieved the Olympic Games, I’ve been to the U17 World Cup. The only thing that was missing was the Men’s Senior World Cup.

“Having achieved that now, it’s time to no longer be a Malume at home because the kids are calling me Malume and that’s a problem.

“The weekends are always away and I’ve been spending two months out of a year for the past couple of years away from home. So it’s taken it’s toll.

“And I think it’s also time for me to give back to football in another way. I also believe that it’s important that I make way for new blood.

“I think we tend to think that football belongs to us. [But] we found football, we find it and we leave it and I think that’s the most important thing.

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“I think that’s possibly where we can improve. I’d like to set a good example as well, not only in refereeing but in other spheres.

“Football is in my blood, so we’ll see what football has in store for me.”