Alfie Whiteman: the story explained

Alfie Whiteman picked up a Europa League winner's medal last year, now at 27 he has retired from football and is opening his first photography exhibition. Alfie Whiteman has emerged this Friday as one of the stories drawing attention in Ethiopia.

Key facts

• Alfie Whiteman picked up a Europa League winner's medal last year, now at 27 he has retired from football and is opening his first photography exhibition.
• Alfie Whiteman scans the self-portraits on display at a Grade II listed art gallery inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the ones he took of himself hanging out of a tumble dryer, celebrating a birthday alone in the woods and sitting naked on a jetty staring out over Sweden's Lake Mockeln.
• The focus of his exhibition - Alfie Whiteman: 'A Loan' - is from his time there, showcasing the photographs he took and diary entries he kept.
• Fans discovered his Letterboxd profile, where he has reviewed more than 200 films, but Whiteman also spent free time working on photography projects and taking acting lessons.
• Whiteman only featured once for Spurs, brought on by Jose Mourinho to replace Joe Hart in a Europa League win over Ludogorets in 2020.

What we know

Going deeper, Alfie Whiteman scans the self-portraits on display at a Grade II listed art gallery inside the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the ones he took of himself hanging out of a tumble dryer, celebrating a birthday alone in the woods and sitting naked on a jetty staring out over Sweden's Lake Mockeln.

On the substance, the focus of his exhibition - Alfie Whiteman: 'A Loan' - is from his time there, showcasing the photographs he took and diary entries he kept.

Beyond the headlines, Fans discovered his Letterboxd profile, where he has reviewed more than 200 films, but Whiteman also spent free time working on photography projects and taking acting lessons.

More precisely, Whiteman only featured once for Spurs, brought on by Jose Mourinho to replace Joe Hart in a Europa League win over Ludogorets in 2020.

It is worth noting that Whiteman was on the bench when Spurs won the Europa League in Bilbao.

By the numbers

At this stage, less than a year since that success he is showing BBC Sport his new exhibition having retired at just 26 a few months later.

On a related note, an open-top bus parade through the north London streets where he grew up was the culmination of more than 15 years with the boyhood club he joined aged 10, having watched them lift the 2008 League Cup at Wembley with his dad.

Going deeper, all these little things were edging me closer to taking this step into this unknown," says the 27-year-old.

On the substance, most of his senior football, however, came over two loan spells earlier in his career with Degerfors, first heading to Sweden at a "day's notice" in 2021.

The wider context

On a related note, Whiteman had offers to stay in the game when his Tottenham contract expired last summer, trialling with Championship and League One clubs, but instead decided to focus on his work as a photographer and film director.

Going deeper, I called my agent because I had to be like 'stop, I'm not going to go to this club…' and he was really understanding," says Whiteman.

On the substance, Whiteman had long been planning for a career away from professional football.

Beyond the headlines, one summer, while his team-mates set off for Dubai or the Maldives, Whiteman appeared in a play in Holborn - an experimental art piece where he played a "really cheesy, over-the-top boyfriend".

More precisely, Whiteman has always been culturally engaged, his father was a jazz musician, but in his youth some team-mates would call him a "hippie".

The bottom line

• The focus of his exhibition - Alfie Whiteman: 'A Loan' - is from his time there, showcasing the photographs he took and diary entries he kept.
• One summer, while his team-mates set off for Dubai or the Maldives, Whiteman appeared in a play in Holborn - an experimental art piece where he played a "really cheesy, over-the-top boyfriend".
• He was living a very different life to the stereotype of a footballer - Whiteman didn't play golf and would ride his bike or get the train to training.
• Searches spiking right now: Alfie Whiteman bares all to find a life beyond football, The Europa League winner turned director, actor, DJ and photographer, How this former soccer star rejected a childhood dream after years of ‘stagnation’, Alfie Whiteman: Why I left Spurs and football for a new career as a photographer and director - The Athletic.