Peter Rufai, the goalkeeper who never wanted to reign, dies

Peter Rufai , an iconic Nigerian football goalkeeper and prince of the Idimu tribe (a region of Lagos) who chose to dedicate himself to football rather than becoming a king, died Thursday in his country at the age of 61 due to cardiac arrest while resting at his residence.

Rufai defended his country in the 1994 World Cup in the United States and the 1998 World Cup in France, and played for Hércules and Deportivo in the late 1990s, coming from the Belgian and Portuguese leagues (Lokeren, Breven, and Farense). His presence in La Liga was practically symbolic (he played just eight matches for Deportivo), but he made his mark due to his unique background.

He was the son of King Rufai of Idimu and, although he did not like to talk about his blue blood, the press soon highlighted his origins, which revealed that he was the heir to the throne despite not being the eldest of his eight siblings, but the chosen one to succeed him.

His father's death in 1999 caught him by surprise while he was playing for Deportivo. He refused to succeed him and missed the chance to ascend to the throne: " I never wanted to be king . If I accepted, I couldn't be a footballer. I know I would have had a good life, because I knew how my parents lived. But that wasn't for me. It didn't make me happy. What I wanted was football," he said in a contemporary interview with The Irish Times .

"I lost the opportunity to be king because of football. I lost my father just months before the 1998 World Cup in France. I've never regretted giving up that status because I deeply respect my professional career," he said in a 2018 interview with The Sun Nigeria.

Rufai finished his time at Deportivo, returned to Portugal to play for Gil Vicente, and hung up his gloves in the 1999/2000 season. Two and a half decades later, the man who could have reigned supreme, who traded a scepter for a life between the posts, clearing balls, is gone forever.