One of the matters in vogue in sport as a whole is the mental health of its practitioners. Sensitive theme, as it is difficult to measure the well-being of each athlete, as each one reacts differently to psychological pressure.
This pressure, created by better performance collection every day and corresponding properly to expectations, can be internal or external, or both.
The case for analysis here is that of Cristian Totti. This week, the 19 -year -old announced that he was ending his career, even though she had not even started for real, as she did not professionalize.
Cristian is the firstborn and only son of Francesco Totti, 48, born eight months before his father became world champion with Italy in the 2006 World Cup in Germany, a championship in which Squadra Azzurra shirt 10 scored a goal and gave four assists.
Totti is the biggest idol in Rome’s history, his only club (1992 to 2017), having scored over 300 goals in almost 800 matches. His fans consider him a legend and call him “The Captain” – very consistent, because no one has laid, in a renowned club, the stripe for as long as he.
Cristian grew up in the Italian capital, in an environment that breathed football, and naturally wanted to follow in his father’s footsteps.
Midfielder, began in the base categories of Rome at the age of 12, remaining until 18. He did not earn enough to establish himself, playing few matches.
Successively moved from 2023 to Frosinone (Italy), Rayo Vallecano (Spain), Avezzano (Italy) and Olbia (Italy), the last two of the fourth division. Always with short tickets, there was just a few minutes on the field in the championships.
Seeing that the career did not progress even in modest divisions, he gave up.
“It was! I’m dropping football. I won’t say beyond that, but I retired,” he told La Nuova Sarden. The Olbia, from the city of the same name and the last team of Cristian, is on the island of Sardinia.
Since he declined to exhibit his reasons, there were those who expose it for him, blaming the famous surname.
Case of Sabrina Uccello, Italian journalist who writes for the Spanish diary as. “Your father is an undisputed emperor. Lots of pressure on top, generating an inevitable effect: the desire for a profession and a future far from the lawns.”
Totti himself, in April this year, recognized at the Siamo La Rome portal (we are to Rome) that the situation of his son was not comfortable. “It happens that some people can’t reach the top. My son loves to play soccer, but unfortunately he has to carry the weight of our last name.”
Cristian suffered from heavy criticism on social networks, which included not only the performances below the imagined but disapproval of their weight, which would be, according to the “haters”, above the ideal. At 1.85 m, there were rumors that he weighed 90 kg.
For Marco Amelia, Olbia coach, Cristian has always been as in form as any other of the team. “He’s big, not fat.”
Amelia, who was Totti’s companion at the 2006 World Cup (was the third goalkeeper of Italy), said she saw Cristian potential to play in the B or C series. “But her father’s surname weighed on him,” he acknowledged.
It is the second case of the son of a football star who has abdicated to move on in less than a year. In September 2024, the Frenchman Enzo Zidane hung his boots at 29 after running for small teams from Spain, France and Portugal.
Midfielder as the illustrious father (Zinedine Zidane, champion in the 1998 World Cup and vice in 2006, one of the best footballers in history), reported having tired of the constant comparisons, which caused her mental wear.
In Brazil, I remember well the expectation generated year after year, the press and the fans, around Edinho, son of the greatest of all, Pelé, who played in the goal and was the starter of Santos, without great success, in the 1990s. He hung his gloves at 28 years.
There was also Rivaldinho, son of Rivaldo (champion in the 2002 World Cup). There was a way of saying, as it will end your career without glowing. At 30, he still plays (he is a striker), but without ever being able to show the least to be in a big team. He currently parades his median football on Chinese lawns.
Anyway, it seems right to me that every son of a football big shift who chose to do the same has, at many times, sense of discomfort when, wanting the sun to enlighten him, the huge shadow of the father persisted in covering it up.
An discomfort that can become torment and grow until it becomes unbearable so intense. This was the case of Cristian Totti.
