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34 Comments

  1. RespectTheBall on

    Make him stay and is his mind on the World Cup? No, of course not. Idiots.

  2. My wife was in labour for 12 hours and I was there with her in the hospital for the whole 12 hours. The world could have burned outside and I wouldn’t give one flying fuck about it. Family comes first, especially children.

  3. Life is bigger than the game. He knows exactly where lies his loyalty. A man of character.

  4. lol criticized by whom? by a fr*nch tv guy. didn’t see any other criticism. everyone is okay with this, not that other peoples opinion matter in this case, but still…

  5. PhilosopherNo8418 on

    He’ll probably father 10 kids during his lifetime, but might only play in one world cup. Stay with the team bro.

  6. guru4goodwood on

    Absolutely ridiculous criticism trying to make him miss the birth of his child for a football match us Absolutely not on

  7. People are such assholes. It’s his first kid. If he had decided not to attend the birth you would have had another section of society criticizing him for not being a decent man or father.

  8. Good for him.
    Once football is long gone you’ll still have your Family.

    Happy Father’s Day to him and all the other dads.

  9. I_Like_Water11 on

    Crazy that athletes still get criticism for this in 2026. The people complaining probably just have/are shitty parents.

  10. ad240pCharlie on

    Genuinely ridiculous. You don’t see other people getting criticized for leaving work to attend the birth of their child, but football players are apparently supposed to sacrifice their family for their job!

    There are bigger things in life than football.

  11. True_Contribution_19 on

    Obviously pretty ridiculous to miss a knockout game. Good news is that he’s so bad Belgium won’t be playing.

  12. tylerthe-theatre on

    A top player may get 3, maybe 4 world cups to play in if they’re lucky, you only get 1 birth of your child so go be there for them, then come back if you can.

  13. People think that footballers are machines with no emotion or feelings. Go experience your first child being born, there’s nothing like it and you’ll never experience it again.

  14. Being at the birth of both my kids was an amazing experience. It is something you can’t miss if possible.

  15. No_Peach_2676 on

    Why would you hate on him for leaving for the birth of his child. That’s the stupidest reason I’ve heard for anyone to shit on a footballer. Some things are more important than football and the birth of ur first child is defo one

  16. Good on him. His priorities are absolutely correct here, and fuck whoever thought that this should be leaked.

  17. lol, national team are paying them significantly smaller than club and this journalist expect them prioritising country over family😂

  18. The birth of a child is VERY much more important than any game. The correct action of a responsible father!

  19. Intelligent_Read_697 on

    A white woman criticizing a black man for attending his child’s birth…oh the irony

  20. I don’t care what my job is, intl footballer or not. I’m not missing the birth of my child for anything. My employer can kick rocks, so can any pundit or fan that feels some type of way. Idc how many world cups i go to.

    Family over everything

  21. bigkahuna1uk on

    Misleading click bait title. On the contrary, Doku has been commended for his intentions and it’s actually the sports reporter who admonishes him initially who is now being excoriated.

  22. In Ronaldinho’s documentary he said the one thing he regrets was missing the birth of his son because of playing football. If someone who loves the game as much as him is saying that…

  23. shortpersonohara on

    Are we being serious lol of course he should miss camp for the birth of his child

  24. Away_Flamingo_5611 on

    The Fox commentator said that Doku was going to be out because of illness, the PR on this is hilariously confusing.

    Imo he’s doing the right thing. Let him support his partner and child.