By Clinton Nyabuto:
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Monday, April 29th 2019 at 16:33 GMT +3 | Premier LeagueThe United Kingdom and other governments had a compulsory military service that required all male citizens to enrol for one or two years in the army at the age of 18.
Sportspeople, however famous, were not exempted from the service.
Some, however, found a way to escape this dreaded routine.
Game Yetu looks at five Premier League players who reportedly escaped military service.
Mohamed Salah – Egypt
The Egyptian assassin has played a key role in Liverpool’s revival since joining from Roma on June 22, 2017.
Known for his excellent dribbling, speed and finishing, Salah sizzled in his Premier League first season, netting 32 goals to become the top scorer.
The Egyptian’s career, however, was in jeopardy after reports arose in 2014 that he could be forced to return to Egypt to carry out military service after his registration for an education scheme was annulled by Egypt’s Minister of Higher Education.
Luckily enough, the 26-year-old had not returned to his home country to serve in the military when the Egyptian Prime Minister stepped in to resolve the matter.
Per Mertesacker – Germany
The former Arsenal skipper evaded service in the army as he was apparently too tall.
His request was successful even though he made contributions to his nation by serving in mental health clinics for a while.
Nemanja Vidic – Serbia
The former Manchester United star left his home town of Uzice for Belgrade at the age of 15 and joined Red Star.
The former Serbia international could have been caught up in action during a NATO bombing campaign which targeted both Uzice and Belgrade.
However, he was lucky enough as he had visited an army training camp two days earlier to hand in the paperwork which excused him from national service as a professional footballer.
The former Liverpool star was 18 years of age when he joined the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) as military service was mandatory in the country.
But even though, army service was flexible for professional athletes, thus Benayoun was lucky to see his football career not compromised.
He continued to play in the Israel league before joining the Premier League to play for West Ham, Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal and QPR.
Park Ji-Sung – South Korea
The former Manchester United attacker narrowly escaped military training as all able-bodied men aged 20 or older in South Korea were required to serve in the armed forces for at least 2 years.
The South Korea national football team made it to the semifinals in the 2002 World Cup, prompting the government to revise the law and allow exemption of key players if a national team made it to the last 16.?
