As a teenager, Patafta was regarded as one of the most promising talents in Australian football. Gus Hiddink picked the 17-year-old as part of the Socceroos squad for the 2006 Germany World Cup where the teenager played alongside Tim Cahill, Harry Kewell and John Aloisi in a B-International.

At the time Patafta was on the books of Portuguese giants Benfica and had been captain of Australia's Under-17 side which was coached by current Socceroos boss Ange Postecoglou.

In 2007, Postecoglou told FourFourTwo  “...the most technically gifted player I've coached would be Kaz Patafta.”

But as most Australian football fans now know, Patafta didn’t fulfil his undeniable potential. After two seasons he left Benfica and returned home and played in the A-League with Melbourne Victory and Newcastle Jets. 

In the end Australia’s wunderkind sensationally retired at only 22 year of age after only playing 64 professional matches.

For many new retirees, life after football can be a devastating period and the question of what's-next can be the hardest decision they will face in life.

But after retirement, Patafta knew what his path would be and his first step was getting a law degree with honours at Deakin University.

In 2015 he became Head of Investments at Intra Corporation, a renewable energy company in Laos. A year later Patafta became the General Manager (GM) of Lanexang United, a football club based in Vientiane, the capital city of Laos where his mother is from.

During his time with Lanexang United, Patafta steered the club to its best performance on and off field and it led to an A-League club making overtures for the young GM’s services.

“I was recently considered for Sydney FC CEO but unfortunately that didn’t work out for me,” Patafta revealed to FourFourTwo.

“Even though the club decided not to move forward with me that’s a role that I have ambition and I aspire to be in one day because I have a lot of ideas.”

Patafta says some of those ideas could have provided some fruitful opportunities for the Sky Blues.

“Last season we were able to generate over US$1million in sponsorship and that is for a Lao club,” Patafta says. “What I could have brought to Sydney FC would’ve been a lot more significant than that.

“This is a key moment for this club who have never run at a net profit. They need to have a long-term vision and plan.

"Winning the A-League title and looking forward to the Asian Champions League doesn’t necessarily equal sustainability or positive net profit from a business perspective.

“Sydney FC is one of the biggest names, now is the time to capitalise and market that brand not just in Australia but Asia.”

While carrying out his duties as GM Patafta says he was often met with surprise, especially from people who remember him as a former Australian youth international.

 “When I was turning up at Asian Football Confederation meetings all year people were shocked,” he says. "I met with A-League executives and everyone kept asking what are you doing here? When I tell them that I am General Manager now they all reply with, ‘everyone thought you disappeared, that you were gone.’

Looking back over the last 12 months Patafta is revelling in his role as GM and is particularly proud of Lanexang United’s accomplishments.

“Last season, we won the Lao Premier League and that success was based on private investment and by having a structure and a plan,” he says.

“We have a big emphasis on scouting young players from around the country and providing education and housing -just general opportunity.

“We have invested heavily, we own our stadium and we’ve developed state of the art football facilities. A lot of people don’t really believe that something like this exists in this part of the world.

“We’ve had record sponsorship, as well as record fan engagement and membership which is great considering that Laos has a population of just over six million.

“We had some great players who had limited ability to showcase their talent but when they had the opportunity in the Mekong Cup we had a lot of enquiries for our players. For the first time, a lot of our young talent were approached by other clubs in this region and now a lot of them are playing in Thailand and Indonesia.”

 “It’s been an interesting experience to do something in a place with limited resources and see improvement in our young playing talent that is putting them on the map.”

Steve Darby is a former national team coach and Technical Director of Laos and he believes Patafta can become an administrator at the highest level of football.

 “Kaz has done a fantastic job in Laos on many levels,” he says

“But most of all he is able to combine playing experiences in quality environments with his legal training. More and more legal knowledge is needed in football administration.

“On a more personal level he has shown to me he has the values of ethics and honesty, things that are not always prevalent in football. He should start to look at an AFC role and then possibly FIFA. He has the all the qualities that are essential for ex- players to get into the administrative system.