HAKIMI: AFRICAN FOOTBALLERS AND THE FOREIGN WIFE TRAP

Achraf Hakimi, a defender for Paris Saint-Germain, has been in the news all week.

According to rumors, his wife Hiba Abouk filed for divorce from the Moroccan international, claiming half of his assets.

However, the Spanish actress is alleged to have discovered that Hakimi's properties are not in his name and that his net worth is negligible.

Rather, all of the 24-year-old's assets are in his mother's name, which means he owes Abouk nothing.

This is a very common story among African footballers.

Tendai Ndoro, a Zimbabwean footballer, declared bankruptcy after losing all of his belongings to his ex-wife following their divorce.

Following a nasty divorce, the 36-year-old lost all of his properties that were registered in the name of his partner, Thando Maseko.

Emmanuel Eboue, a former Arsenal defender, nearly went bankrupt after a protracted divorce fight in 2017 deprived him of his assets in England.

Eboue was reportedly made homeless and had to obtain daily bread after losing much of his wealth to his ex-wife, Belgian Aurelie Bertrand.

"I had a divorce case and they court said my wife won, they gave her all my properties - my two houses, money and the cars that I had in England," Eboue told Empire FM in 2021.

Football is one of the most profitable enterprises on the planet.

Take, for example, Hakimi. He is the sixth highest-paid African footballer, earning £176,00 each week.

When bonuses are included in, he may earn around £1,000,000 in a month.

On social media, there's a running joke that footballers make more money than they can spend.

Aside from riches, there is also celebrity, which attracts women like a magnet.

So you can be forgiven if you roll your eyes when a random women declares her love for a player.

Even more so if the marriage fails a few months or years later.

So, how do these footballers defend themselves? Is Hakimi's approach the best bet?

"I think players should only explore pre-nuptial agreements rather than this nonsense," Barrister Kwami Adadevoh, legal practice straddles between Nigeria, Ghana and the UK, tells a reporter.

When Eboue returned to his home country, it is thought he remarried his childhood sweetheart, Stephanie Boede.

Could it be an option for footballers, particularly those from these regions, who want to marry into a familiar culture?

"No. Not to my mind," Adadevoh replied emphatically.