Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Ballon d'Or, Football, Sweden
Marcus Chan
A former Ballon d’Or contender looks completely unrecognisable after hanging up his boots at the age of just 28.
Back in 1994, the Ballon d’Or award was given to Bulgaria and Barcelona star Hristo Stoichkov.
Italian stars Roberto Baggio and Paolo Maldini finished in second and third respectively.
In joint fourth place were Romanian great Gheorghe Hagi and Swedish player Tomas Brolin.
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Brolin finished in fourth place after enjoying a brilliant World Cup having scored three goals to help Sweden finish in third place.
Brolin’s career took a dramatic turn after he met Swedish inventor Gordan Edlund in 1998.
After meeting Edlund, Brolin decided to cut his football career short at the age of just 28. Instead of football, the midfielder opted to invest in Edlund’s vacuum cleaners.
Now, Brolin owns 50 per cent of Twinner, which is one of Sweden’s most popular brands and brings in millions of pounds each year.
During his playing days, Brolin was known for having a cleanly shaved face with a mullet hairstyle.
However, now 53 years old, Brolin has grown facial hair and ditched the mullet for a slightly more conventional haircut.
During his interview with FourFourTwo, Brolin said he doesn’t regret the decision to retire.
He said: “If you want to continue playing at a high level you’ve got to train every single day, but I wasn’t so keen to keep doing that.
“I had other projects in my head – when I stopped playing, an inventor came up to me with his new idea about vacuum cleaners and I opened that company.”
Brolin added: “If by the December of that year I’d wanted to play again, I would have come back. But that feeling never came and now it’s 20 years ago. Everyone says 28 is young to retire, but it depends on what you’ve done in your 28 years as a footballer. I’d done quite a lot.”
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