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Why a former Tottenham star retired at 26 to launch film career
Martin Macdonald
- 31 Oct 2025 08:01 CDT
- 7 min read
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In May of 2025, Tottenham Hotspur announced that Alfie Whiteman would leave the club at the end of his contract in the summer.
It seems this release was the best thing that could have happened to the goalkeeper as it gave him the impetus to go and pursue his dream of becoming a photographer and director.
Rather than pursue another club, Whitmean hung up his gloves forever, leaving the world of professional football.
Whiteman's football career
Whiteman joined the Tottenham academy at the age of 10 and rose through the ranks to eventually feature in the first-team squad.
He would, however, only make one senior appearance for Spurs and it came as a substitute for Joe Hart in a Europa League fixture against Ludogorets in November of 2020.
He has twice went out on loan to Swedish outfit Degerfors in 2021 and 2020.
Whiteman wanted to pursue another loan in the 2024/25 campaign to gain some first-team football but was informed that he would not be allowed to leave as Tottenham required him as a homegrown club-trained player for their Europa League squad.
He would eventually gain a winner's medal in that tournament despite not playing a single minute of the campaign.
At 26, he was released in the summer.
New career for Whiteman
Following his retirement, Whiteman signed a new kind of deal, this time with London and Los Angeles-based filmmaking hub Somesuch, the production company behind the winner of the Oscar for ‘Best Live Action Short’ at the 2022 Academy Awards, 'Aneil Karia, The Long Goodbye'.
During his time at Spurs, Whiteman had plenty of other interests and took acting classes as well as performing as a DJ. He hosts the monthly music program Sweet Tooth w/ Alfie Whiteman for NTS Radio.
This love for the creative arts led to him deciding to leave football behind, despite reported offers from clubs in the English Championship.
Not long after retiring, he released a short film about the World Toe Wrestling Championships which received acclaim and it was actually that project that led to him being signed by Somesuch.
“I signed for Spurs at 10 years old,” Whiteman told The Athletic.
“Then I left school at 16 and went straight into this full-time life of football. When I was around 17 or 18, living in digs, I just had this feeling inside of, ‘Is this it?’ Getting on the minibus, going to training, doing the Sports Science BTEC (I also did an A Level in Economics) and going home to play video games.
"I realised, ‘Oh, I’m not happy here’ from quite a young age.
“The stereotype of a footballer is generally quite true. It’s the golf, washbag culture. I was that young footballer. I wanted the Gucci washbag and I drove the Mercedes. You all just become a reflection of each other. You’re a product of your environment. It’s the way football is in this country; it’s so shut off from anything else. You go to training and then you go home, that’s it.
“I guess I always felt a little bit different. My teammates — who I got on well with — called me a hippie. That was their definition. But then, when I was 18, I met my ex-girlfriend, who was a model.
"She was a bit older than me. Her best friend was a director. It just started opening my eyes to what life has to offer. So as I was getting a bit older around 18 or 19, I started meeting new people and realising a bit more about myself, and understanding the football bubble, because it’s so insular.”
The plan for after football
Whiteman always knew he had to have a plan for when his football career was over - the new plan just happened a lot quicker than he expected.
“Football is a short career regardless,” he said“I knew I didn’t want to stay in it forever. It was about trying to gain experience and be proactive in learning about things I was passionate about — and mainly because I was enjoying it.
“I saw happiness in these other avenues. It got to the point where I’d rather end this on my terms than go to a club that I didn’t want to go to.”
World Toe Wrestling Championships
Whiteman's big breakthrough came with the aforementioned documentary on the World Toe Wrestling Championships.
“There was no budget or brief, nothing,” the 27-year-old explained.
“I turned up with my camera and ran around shooting it, then sat with an editor to finish it — and it got posted.” The short received glowing reviews from David Reviews, earning him a contract with Somesuch. “Somesuch have their film and commercials departments, and I do photography. I’ve got project ideas for short films, and hopefully one day, a feature-length.”
