As much as being a professional footballer would be a dream come true for many, there is always a point in the lives of some of these athletes, when they had to make a bold decision if it was for them.
Not all of these footballers had it all figured out from the beginning, yet now many of them have become household names in the football industry.
Here are seven such players who remained loyal to the beautiful game and were awarded abundantly.
7. Steve Savidan - Trash Collector
Savidan, now retired, made his only appearance for the France national team in 2008.
He played most of the rest of his career in third division of the French football league.
The Frenchman was a part-time trash collector and bartender to make ends meet and only made it in football because of his self belief and hard work.
6. Phil Neville - Cricketer
In his younger years, Neville was one of the best cricket batsmen at the U-15 level in England and was captain of the team.
He played alongside the great Andrew Flintoff with some even saying he was even better than the England cricket legend.
5. Andrei Arshavin - Fashion Designer
The former Arsenal star studied at St. Petersberg State University of Technology and Design.
He apparently switched from the Chemical Technology to Fashion department because there were more women in fashion.
Arshavin became quite successful in Russia and now has his own line of clothes.
4. Joe Hart - Cricketer
Hart like Neville, was also a budding cricketer known to be a fine bowler owing to his strong arms.
He spent two year in Worcestershire's youth academy and switched to football after Shrewsbury offered him a lucrative deal.
3. Zlatan Ibrahimovic - Martial Arts
The Swede is one of the best in the business and is famous for his orthodox goals that always require an extra touch of genius to accomplish.
He grew up learning Taekwando from a very young age and credits his fancy Kung Fu moves that produce stunning goals to his martial arts training.
Ibrahimovic was so good that his former Sensei at Malmo actually believed he would been an international hit if he ventured into the kick-punch art.
2. Miroslav Klose - Carpenter
At the age of 19, Klose was playing football in the seventh division of the Germany League while training to be a carpenter.
Klose began taking football seriously when he made the first team at Kaiserlauten at 22 years.
Two years later Klose impressed the world at the 2002 World Cup and the rest is history.
He is the FIFA World Cup top goalscorer with 16 goals.
1. Didier Drogba - Accountant
Drogba rejected offers from top European clubs including Paris Saint-Germain at the age of 21 to focus on being an accountant.
Partially lacking confidence in seeing himself break the ranks and become a top footballer made Drog shy away from the dream of football.
He eventually signed his first professional football contract at 22 years with Le Mans.
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