Father of four, soccer legend and all round nice guy, Tim Cahill chats to Go Mag about life before and after the world cup!

GO: Wellbeing has obviously always been a big part of your life. As you made a bid for a fourth straight World Cup did your focus change?

TC: Wellbeing has always been a part of my life but as I get older, I understand more and more how important it is to take care of myself physically and mentally. Being a footballer, the exercise and training side of things has always been there but more recently I’ve been able to fine tune other areas like my diet, recovery and meditation practice.

In the last six months, I have really tried to push my training to a new level and work harder than I ever have before. It was especially helpful to spend time in Turkey before the World Cup because it was 30-40 degrees every day. After my body adapted to that, it felt like I could play anywhere. My diet has also been a greater focus because of how much it contributes to recovery from training. I’ve taken it easy on the carbs and pushed my protein intake up for this reason.
Importantly, meditation has become a massive part of my daily routine. I’ve found that having time to myself really contributes to my overall well-being and helps me perform at my best in all areas of my life.

GO: From what we see on social media, you treat fatherhood with plenty of joy and love. How important is family?

TC: My family is my world. It was so good after being away from them for more than a month leading into the World Cup to be able to spend some time away with my wife and kids. We were out snorkeling and playing football every day.

My kids have been so great at adapting to all of the different countries that we’ve lived in. To move to a new city and make new friends is such a hard situation but they’ve been so good. It makes it so much easier for me to perform on the football field when you know your family is happy and settled.

I have also stayed close to my brothers over the years. I love for my kids to be able to spend time with my nieces and nephews because that was how we grew up, spending lots of time with our wider family. My parents, brothers, and sister have been amazing to me throughout my career and I owe so much to them for that.

GO: Your business portfolio is growing all the time. What do you look for in terms of being a good fit for your brand?

TC: The first thing that I look at when I’m presented with a business opportunity is the background of the company and the people involved with it. I want to know what the company stands for as well as the individuals themselves. I’ve always looked for quality over quantity with my commercial partners as I treat each of them as an important relationship that is deserving of my time and attention so having shared values is vital.

In that regard, the story behind Vitaman the brand was important to me. Getting to know how Clare Matthews (the founder) had built the business as all-Australian and using natural ingredients in her products really appealed to me. She had put her life into building the business and I had so much respect for the way that she had built it up in a variety of markets around the world. At the same time, I saw so much potential for the business to grow and the opportunity to be part of that was really exciting to me.

GO: You’re the Socceroos greatest goal scorer and have achieved so much success; so what’s in Tim Cahill’s future?

TC: My immediate next step is to work on getting my coaching badges so that I’m prepared if an opportunity presents itself in that area of football. I’m also really focused on laying foundations in Australian football at the grassroots level which is an area that I’m hoping to make a really big impact in following my retirement from the Socceroos. If I look to continue playing club football, I want to make sure that it takes place in a country that allows me to spend more time with my family because being around my kids as they grow up is my first priority moving forwards.

Image credits: Shoreditch London