Rafael Struick Plans To Become A Celebrity When He Retires

Rafael Struick intends to become a celebrity when he retires from football (Instagram/@rafaelstruck).

JAKARTA - Rafael Struick has thought of a mature plan if he no longer has a career in football. Even though he is still very young, Struick plans to become a celebrity when he retires.

Struick's name began to skyrocket after the naturalization process was completed. He became the player of the Indonesian national team with the highest number of followers on Instagram.

Currently, the Indonesian-Dutch blood player has 1.2 million followers on his personal social media.

Of his millions of followers, not even a few are willing to subscribe to exclusive content priced at 0.05 euros per month to see Struick's activities.

Seeing how high the interest of fans on social media is, Struick thought of becoming a celebrity when he retired. You see, the number of followers continues to grow.

"Currently I have a lot of followers and it will continue to grow in the years to come. I even think I can be an influencer after my football career is over," Rafael Struick was quoted as saying by Omroep West on Thursday, December 14, 2023.

"Not only for Indonesian followers, but also for fans from other countries. For me, it looks cool," he explained.

Despite having the desire to become a celebrity after retiring, Struick's commitment as long as he is still a footballer deserves thumbs up.

This is related to advertising and collaboration offers that have recently begun to flood them. With his current status as an active footballer, Struick does not want to interfere with commercial affairs that can be achieved quickly through fame.

He expressed the desire for people to know him better as a football player because of his abilities, not fame from social media.

"I received a message from the company about collaboration, but I never really responded to it."

"I think the athletes sometimes walk over the advertising pillar and I want to stay away from that. I want people to get to know me from football, not from Instagram," said the 20-year-old.

Despite his retirement intention and becoming a celebrity, Rafael Struick is currently still registered as an active footballer who has strengthened the second caste club of the Dutch League, ADO Den Hague.

Struick has appeared four times in all competitions with ADO The Hague. Having suffered an injury, Struick then proved himself after recovering by scoring three goals from two matches. He did this while defending ADO Den Hague U-21.

In addition to appearing for the club, Struick will also strengthen the Indonesian national team in the 2023 Asian Cup which will take place in Qatar from 12 January to 10 February 2024.

In the tournament, the Garuda Squad joined in Group D with Vietnam, Iraq, and Japan.