DISCPLINE, dedication and sacrifice is what a player needs to have in mind from the very start of he is to make it to the very top in football or any other sport in his life.
These were the comments made by New Caledonian born France World Cup winner Christian Karembeu is Suva yesterday.
He is in the country together a delegation from Oceania Football Confederation which includes OFC general secretary Tai Nicholas and deputy secretary general Frederic Guillemont who are here to promote football.
Karembeu who won the World Cup winners medal in 1998 with France playing along side the likes of Zinadane Zidane, Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Marcel Desailly and Lillian Thuram is the only Pacific Islander to have won the World Cup.
Before having retired in 2005 he also played club level football for Bastia in the French Ligue 1 Nantes (1990-95), Sampdoria (1995-97), Real Madrid (1997-2000), Middlesbrough (2000-01), Olympiakos (2001-04), Servette Genève (2004-05), Bastia (2005).
Karembeu who is part of the FIFA ambassador programme said there was a lot of effort needed if a player was to make it to the top.
“Things like drinking and smoking marijuana will not take you anywhere and help you in any way if you want to make it to the top,” Karembeu said.
“There are rules which you need to follow.
“You need to respect your body, soul and intellect.”
He said the Pacific was full of untapped talent which he compared to being “unpolished diamond”.
“There are a lot of players in the islands who are very good and a good example is the Ba team which played in the O League final,” he said.
“The players are like diamonds and have raw talent and just need to be polished up for them to improve.”