EDITOR'S NOTE: Thomas Beattie played professional soccer from 2008-15. A native of England, he came up through the Hull City youth academy, but his career took him across three continents as he searched for his true identity. This is his story, as told to Emily Kaplan.
When my club, Warriors FC in Singapore, qualified for the Asian Champions League in 2015, our first match was in Myanmar. There were 40,000 fans in the stadium, rocking. The buildup alone -- having the badge on my shirt, hearing the Champions League anthem -- gave me goosebumps. As a lad in Northern England, I dreamed of being on a stage like this.