Chris Broadfoot

Ex-pro footballer. Debut at 29. Founder, SportsFX. Helping athletes make the move overseas with The Overseas Athlete podcast and newsletter.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

April 2025, Sold Everything. Left Australia. 10 Bags, PlayStation and our little family.

🇹🇭 Thailand first for 16 months
🇦🇪 Dubai for Business Set Up
🇬🇪 Tbilisi for the next adventure.

Running a business from a laptop, learning and implemented AI, now building agents to help run it all.

What an adventure 😊

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

At 15, Jamie Maclaren signed for Blackburn. He then went six months without seeing his family.

What helped was the foreign kids and first-team players around him.

Put thought into your people, not just your contract.
https://t.co/q4WnCl9mzY

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@DeadlineDayLive @JacobsBen Earning an improved deal by getting into the manager's plans is the best way to do it. My first pro contract didn't come until 29, so I always enjoy seeing a young player rewarded for turning up every day.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@SkySportsNews Humble travels well. Modric to Madrid, Kane to Munich, both settled in new countries without fuss. Since leaving Australia I've lived in Thailand and now Georgia, and staying curious and grounded has helped me more than anything.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@TheAthleticFC @JordanC1107 Under-14 transfers is a lot of weight on a kid. I didn't make my pro debut until 29, after years playing local league in Australia. There's more than one way in, and families should hear that early.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@FabrizioRomano Güler moved to Madrid as a teenager and had to wait a while for his chance. The first season abroad is rarely the one that defines a player, and it's good to see that patience paying off.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@goal Good on him wanting his own path. Mine went the long way round, local league in Australia, a summer with Toronto Lynx in Canada, then a pro debut at 29. Comparisons don't pick your route for you.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@FabrizioRomano Leaving the US job to come back to the Premier League is a big reset, not just a new contract. Coaches go through the same coming-home stuff as players, and it never gets talked about enough.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@ESPNFC Nice touch having the senior squad there. When I was chasing a pro contract, the coach seeing how serious I was is what set me apart, so being watched by the top team at 16 counts for a lot.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@BBCSport Easy to forget he went out on loan four times before it clicked at Spurs. I didn't make my pro debut until 29, so I'm a big fan of the long road.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

Keep your home as an investment when you go overseas and you can lose the main residence exemption. Tim Pullman on acting before you leave.

Full episode and free newsletter: https://t.co/fHQ4cwgAnH

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

Seven NBA seasons don't remove the adjustment of moving abroad.

Unicaja's sporting director said Kevin Knox would need time to adapt to his first experience outside American basketball.

The First 90 Days matter at every level.
https://t.co/zdgCpPbqaS

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@TheAthleticFC Three dinners over four years and still no job. I pitched the same idea to the same people in 2015, 2018 and 2020 before the call finally came in 2022. Sometimes no just means not yet.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@SkySportsNews I made my pro debut at 29 and thought I'd left it late. Jimmy signing for a new county in his 40s is a good reminder that the clock only runs out when the body or the hunger does.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@FabrizioRomano Feeling settled in another country takes longer than people think. Thailand took me months before it felt like home, and Georgia's been harder without the language. When a player says he feels very good after years abroad, that's worth more than people realise.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@aleaguemen @brisbaneroar Love seeing the Queensland pathway get recognised. I grew up playing on the Gold Coast before getting my chance at Gold Coast United, and there has always been talent up there that just needs the right door to open.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@goal A start like that is how a name ends up on Premier League shortlists. My pro contract didn't come until 29 at Gold Coast United, so I always tell younger players the same thing. Keep stacking good games and the right people notice.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@DeadlineDayLive Sixteen and already training in Madrid while the paperwork gets finished. The football side he's clearly ready for. The first 90 days are usually about everything else, like the language, a new routine and being a long way from family.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@NBA @Pacers Good to see from where I'm sitting. I'm living in Georgia now and basketball is big here, so Mamukelashvili dropping 23 and five threes for the Lakers is a proud one for the country.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@brfootball Three in four for OL Lyonnes while playing a long way from home is impressive. I only spent one summer playing in North America with the Toronto Lynx, and settling in off the pitch was half the job.

[Chris Broadfoot @_chrisbroadfoot]

@espn Hope it's only a scare. I rolled my ankle the day before my first pro start and it turned into three surgeries and a year of rehab, so I never shrug off an ankle.