Maarten Paes was all smiles as he spoke to The CEO Magazine over a video call from the Netherlands in February. For keen football fans, the reason for his delight was hardly a surprise.

Twenty-four hours earlier, news broke that he was joining historic Amsterdam-based AFC Ajax in the Dutch Eredivisie league. What made the day even more special was that his family, whom he has lived away from for four years, was present for the announcement.

“It was a cool day and an emotional one too. We broke the internet,” Paes says, laughing.

For the 27-year-old goalkeeper, who represents Indonesia internationally, the move is a return home to the Netherlands after four seasons with FC Dallas in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the United States – the last season as captain.

“I’m very grateful for my time in the United States, but there were also a lot of sacrifices for it,” Paes explains, including a long-distance relationship with his girlfriend, Dutch model Luna Bijl.

Plus, it’s not every day a top-flight club like Ajax, four-time winner of the European Cup/Champions League, comes knocking.

“It’s a beautiful new step in my career,” he adds.

Impact beyond the pitch

Don’t expect Paes to be blowing his new paycheck away on flashy cars or luxury vacations, however.

Despite his age – and success on the pitch – Paes hasn’t pressed snooze on what matters off the field either. Instead, he’s been busy carving out an impressive track record in the business world as he strives to create impact beyond the sporting arena.

Paes’ savvy investment portfolio currently includes the Pro Padel League’s (PPL) New York Atlantics (the reigning 2025 PPL Champions) and TGL, the prime-time golf league co-founded by sporting personalities Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

He has also joined the likes of Andre Agassi and Sloane Stephens as an active investor in Ballers, a sports social club in Philadelphia and Boston (and soon Los Angeles), where members can access facilities such as championship-grade pickleball and padel courts, alongside traditional racquet sports, tennis and squash.

“I’m a big fan of starting as young as possible,” Paes says of making such deep inroads into the world of business while still building his football career.

“Right now, I have the platform. I have a lot of entry points I probably won’t have when I stop playing.”

A push to private equity

The business seed, Paes explains, was planted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“That was, for me, the first moment of realization: What do I have if football falls away?” he reflects.

He looked for the answer in podcasts and books during the eight months he spent at home in the Netherlands. One, in particular, struck a chord: a Dutch book, De Failliete Voetballer (The Bankrupt Footballer).

“It spoke of why so many football players, NFL players, NBA players and the like go bankrupt after their careers end,” he says. “I wanted to prevent that.”

By the time Paes landed in the United States to take to the field with Dallas, the time felt right to graduate from the early and high-yielding real estate investments he had made in the Netherlands.

He was also ready to dive into a subject rarely addressed in locker rooms back home, yet adopted by the likes of basketball players LeBron James, Kevin Durant and Dwyane Wade.

“I started to read a lot about how they leverage themselves into the business world in terms of venture capital, private equity and endorsement deals,” he explains.

Today, all of the businesses that Paes is invested in share a common bond.

“They suit my personal brand and are linked to what I am passionate about,” he says.

As two of his favorite hobbies, golf and padel are natural matches.

“All of these I can actually play with, make photos of and post on social media, and it looks organic,” he says. “I hate people that are trying to sell you something, because that is what turns me off buying a product.”

A natural progression

From smart investments linked to his hobbies, it has been a natural progression for Paes to launch his own goalkeeper glove line with specialist goalkeeping brand Calma Goalkeeping.

Paes has had hands-on involvement across product development, brand strategy and go-to-market execution. His professional touch can be felt at every step, right down to the choice of latex.

“That’s very important for us as goalkeepers,” he says.

The gloves, which launched in late March to coincide with two Indonesia National Team home games in Jakarta, have even been made with silicon inside, which gives him extra feel with the ball.

“There are all these little details that I find awesome,” he enthuses.

Last but not least, even the colors are significant: red and white.

“That comes back to almost every step of my career: FC Utrecht, FC Dallas and now Ajax and Indonesia,” he explains.

Paes sees the partnership with Calma as an ongoing journey, one that can fill a gap in the market for best-in-class goalkeeper gloves.

“Right now there are a lot of big brands, but they’re not specifically made for goalkeepers,” he says. “I would love it if a dozen or so goalkeepers at the World Cup wore our gloves, me among them, of course.

“I also want to make it accessible for anyone who plays to purchase the best goalkeeper gloves.”

The role of a goalkeeper is often framed as one of the most exposed positions in sport, and Paes is well-versed in training his mind for moments where one decision can change everything.

His mindset for success, both on and off the field, is staying present and focusing on the non-negotiables – or those core habits and standards you have identified and set.

“If you work really hard on your non-negotiables and on your habits, you create a kind of automatic instinct,” he says.

“When your daily routines are solid, you give yourself the best chance of making the right decision in the moment. To be honest, you can’t lose.”