Iroha did not wait until his career was over before putting his plans together.
For many footballers, retirement comes with a difficult question: what next?
The former Super Eagles defender already knew where he wanted to live, what business he wanted to pursue and how he wanted life to look after football.
His answer was Dallas, Texas.
“I planned my future already before the end,” Iroha told PREMIUM TIMES during a recent reunion of members of Nigeria’s celebrated 1994 and 1996 football generations.
“I knew I’m gonna live in Texas.”
It was not a decision he made after his playing career ended. He had seen the city years earlier and felt it could become home.
When Nigeria made its World Cup debut in 1994, Iroha was one of the players who helped the team make history. He started at left-back in Nigeria’s opening match against Bulgaria in Dallas, a game the Super Eagles won 3-0.
For him, however, that trip to Dallas would leave a lasting impression for another reason.
“When I first came to Dallas, I saw a lot of Igbos, a lot of Nigerians,” he said.
The support for Nigeria during the World Cup also surprised him.
“During the game, our first game, Bulgaria and Nigeria, it was as if we were playing in Lagos. You see the whites, the Mexicans, everybody wearing green and white. It was unbelievable.”
The atmosphere convinced him that Dallas was a place where he could build a future.
“I told my wife, this is where we’re going to live after my retirement.”
Iroha did not wait until his career was over before putting his plans together.
He bought a house before retiring and eventually moved to Dallas with his family.
“I bought a house already before I quit. So I moved to Dallas with my family,” he said.
He also had an idea of what he wanted to do for a living.
“I told my wife, it was like a dream. I said, in Dallas, I’m going to live here and I’m going to do spare parts and cars business. I’m going to make it.”
That plan, he says, has worked.
“And that’s what I do today. I’m doing very well. Thank God for that.”
For Iroha, life after football was therefore not about suddenly figuring out what to do when the matches stopped. He had started preparing while he was still a player.
That preparation has also shaped his view of what today’s footballers should do with the money they earn.
Football can provide young players with money and a lifestyle that many people only dream about.
But Iroha knows that the income does not last forever.
He believes this is one of the biggest lessons footballers need to learn before their careers end.
“It is a little better now because now they have managers, now they have financial advisors,” he said. “I think most of them are doing much better now.”
But having advisers is not enough, he warned.
“You see, the life you’re living, when you’re safe to complain, is different from the life you will live when you retire. The money’s gonna go.”
Iroha’s advice to today’s players is to save, invest, and, more importantly, do it early.
