Brazilian midfielder Igor Alves has taken huge leaps in the two years that he has spent since retiring from the professional game by taking up a position at his boyhood club Flamengo.
Flamengo is the most popular and richest club in Brazil with a fanbase stretching over 40 million and while they have an annual turnover of in the billions of rands ranks.
PART 1 | Brazilian footballer who became an English tutor while picking up isiZulu
They are the holders of the Copa Libertadores.
"My last team was Fluminense de Feira Bahia which was based very far away from home where my wife and daughter who were in Rio de Janeiro, so I decided to stop playing in 2021," says Alves who spent three years at Moroka Swallows.
"I wasn't playing at a high level after all, so it was better that I come back home.
"By the time I stopped playing, I had already been studying as a physical coach and this year passed my degree in scouting and now want to do coaching licences.
"At the moment, I'm a professional scout for the Flamengo first team and have been here for 16 months.
"At Flamengo, we have the strongest squad in South America featuring David Luiz, Gerson, Filipe Luis, Everton, Gabriel Barbosa, Arturo Vidal amongst many.
"I hope to ultimately become the chief scout or be a head coach because I like all technical related matters in football," says Alves in a cross Atlantic interview with KickOff.com from Rio de Janeiro.
While he gets on with the business of his duties just how did he end up at Swallows in 2008 after showing promise at Flamengo and Vasco da Gama.
"I came through the ranks of Flamengo and then Vasco da Gama and was meant to get promoted to the professional team but there were issues with what I would be paid which would have been way too little, the money just wasn't good," he says.
"So, there was guy who had proposed to move me to Italy at the time but then I had a problem with my knee which needed surgery.
"At that time (June 2008) Leon Prins (former Moroka Swallows boss) was in Brazil so he spoke to my agent about the possibility of coming to South Africa and I agreed.
"However, the issue was that I would only be able to play after six months, and Leon understood because he wanted me.
"The Italians wanted me to play right away while in South Africa they were understanding of that I would only be able to play after six months after I recover from the knee issues which were forcing my knee to get swollen.
"So, the door to South Africa was opened and I started playing in January 2009.
"I had just turned 20 at the time so I was young.
"What helped me with coming to South Africa was that another ex-Vasco player Danilo Julio had already played for Wits, so he told me everything that I needed to know.
"The World Cup was coming to South Africa in the next two years, so I was attracted by that element as well as the fact that I had been told the game was improving," says Alves.
"When I got to South Africa, I met Julio Leal (Brazilian coach) and he told me about what was happening with the Swallows project.
"My surprise had been that Swallows didn't even have an established training centre despite being a top league club which is unlike here in Brazil where every club has a training base.
"At times we trained in Germiston then at times in all other different places and I wasn't impressed about that.
"My understanding is that a club must have a base where players train, shower, eat, gym, and do whatever else they need.
"This wasn't as professional as I had expected but I saw the improvement being made all the time.
Money?
"At that time the money that I was earning was good because I was young, not married, without kids and the money in Brazil for development players wasn't good at all.
"I signed for three years at Swallows, with two tickets to come home twice so I brought my girlfriend and then bought a car which helped keep my focus.
"My intention was to use Swallows as a steppingstone and move to Europe.
"Since in Brazil, it is extremely difficult to play in the national team I had hoped to maybe stay five years in South Africa and then be eligible to play for Bafana Bafana.
"I came in as a 20-year-old so I had hoped that if it happened that I stay for five years then I would get the papers that would allow me to play for Bafana.
"It would have been great to play for Bafana.
"However, my stay in South Africa was affected by my injury and all the changes that happened at Swallows even though I still stayed for the length of my contract.
"We had Julio Leal then Rainer Zobel then Gordon Igesund, so it was all too much of changes.
Unresolved payment issues that are now with FIFA…
"I was happy in South Africa, made friends that I still talk to now, and I have a soft spot for Swallows, but that matter is being handled by my lawyers.
"It is not right of me to talk about this matter but what happened is that when I left my contract had expired.
"About what is due to me, I cannot talk about that now as it is with the lawyers.
"Last year, I spoke to the lawyer, and he told me to wait, and everything will be resolved and I'm still waiting up to now," says Alves.
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