“With drug trafficking I earned in two months what I earned in a year in soccer”

Sergio Contreras Pardo, higher often called Koke, had a profession in soccer that by no means fairly took off. He debuted within the First Division with Málaga, performed for Olympique de Marseille, performed for Rayo Vallecano and toured dozens of groups in numerous international locations.

He was by no means a star. In one of the best of circumstances he earned what a mid-level footballer earns: round one million euros a 12 months.

However in 2023, sentenced to 6 years in jail for main a world hashish trafficking community, Koke made an uncomfortable revelation in an interview for Canal Plus France from his villa in Marbella.

The determine he talked about modified the angle on his life: “As a soccer participant, you’re fortunate to earn some huge cash. I earned possibly one million euros a 12 months. Within the different enterprise, you earn in two months what you’ll be able to earn in a 12 months in soccer. However you’re risking your life.”

The determine spoke for itself. Whereas in soccer he earned roughly 80,000 euros per thirty days, in drug trafficking he earned these 80,000 euros each two months. Six instances much less work. Infinitely more cash. The temptation was evident.

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Koke had been in jail earlier than. In 2019, he was arrested in Operation Maskoke, a raid through which the Civil Guard seized a ton of cannabis and several other weapons. He spent a 12 months and eight months in jail after paying bail of 15,000 euros.

When he got here out, he did not study his lesson. He was again at it once more, however this time on a bigger scale, main a world felony group that trafficked medicine in vehicles throughout Europe.

In 2023, he was tried. The Public Ministry requested 16 years in prison. Koke confessed everything and accepted a deal: six years. From prison, he reflected on his situation with almost brutal honesty. “I have contacts everywhere, but I’m not Pablo Escobar! When you hear that ‘international trafficker’ you say: What the hell have I done?”

Regarding what it was like to be imprisoned as a former footballer, Koke explained: “I knew everyone, but being a footballer doesn’t change anything. There were many French people, even Marseillais. I saw many Olympique de Marseille shirts in prison.” His fame did not protect him. Being famous didn’t matter inside.

The most revealing thing was his final reflection on prison and life: “In France, they can kill you very quickly for that. Here in prison they can also kill you, but I’m not afraid. Prison is open for stupid people. I’m going back to prison, I don’t know for how long, but I have a sentence until 2027.”

Koke admitted that “going through prison is not the worst thing in the world” but that it is hard: “Being here makes you experience unthinkable things and think like a prisoner.”

But he also asked for something: “I would like to convey to society that we are normal people, that the presumption of innocence has to exist, that by going to prison people cannot be excluded, everyone deserves a chance.”

His story is that of someone who chose between two lives: that of the average soccer player earning a million a year, or that of the trafficker earning six times as much in half the time. He chose wrong. And now he pays the consequence: a sentence that keeps him behind bars until 2027.