Mahazi, who now plays in the K League 1, after spells in Argentina as a junior and five years in the A-League, is a complex character with a wide range of eclectic interests outside of football. In 2017, at the age of 24, he quit professional football to travel to Kenya, the country of his father, after his death and see the rest of the world.
He returned to Australia and signed for the Western Sydney Wanderers the following year. Now Mahazi is building a reputation in Korea as a tough-tackling midfielder, but it is his exploits off the field that are just as interesting.
The 27-year-old is a talented musician, a budding poet and aspiring blogger, who leads as full a life off the pitch as well as he does on it. While many professional footballers in Australia spend their time away from the sport playing FIFA, in cafes or at the beach, the Melbournian can be found writing or strumming on his guitar.
Mahazi has played gigs and worked as a busker in Europe, when on his extended break from football, and was inspired by the likes of Damian Rice and Missy Higgins.
“I taught myself guitar probably about seven years ago now and started writing my own stuff maybe five years ago, so that’s been fun,” he told The World Game.
“I’ve lost money from booking studio time and then having to cancel over the years, so one day when I have the time and space in my life I will get my songs produced properly.
“But for now they’ll just sit in my note book. When I left Victory I played a lot of gigs and busked every day as I made my way around Europe.
“That was good fun but since then I haven’t done anymore.”
Despite his talent with a guitar and as a songwriter, Mahazi is currently studying for a degree in psychology at Swinburne University and sees that field as his future career when he finally decides to hang up his boots for good.
“I like acoustic indie music, and rock. I’d say I’ll always keep music as more of a fun hobby thing that I do as opposed to try make it a career,” he admitted.
“I’m studying psychology so once I’m finished with football I’ll most likely head down that avenue.
“It’s just that it’s been something I’ve been really interested in for as long as I can remember so it was a bit of an obvious choice when I decided I wanted to start studying while I was playing.”
Mahazi also writes poetry and opines on topics such as equality, racism, culture, family and travel on his blog ‘’.
“I love writing, so whether it’s music, or poems, or stories, I love it all,” he said.
The midfielder, who won the A-League double with Melbourne Victory in 2014-2015, left Western Sydney Wanderers in May and had a brief spell with Victorian NPL outfit Moreland Zebras.
Then in July Mahazi linked with Incheon United for the rest of the Korean seasons and scored one goal in nine appearances.
“It was a good first season, towards the end I felt much more comfortable with the style of football as it’s a lot different to the A-League, but a really good league,” he said.
“Not as physical as the A-League but a lot of really good players, and everyone is technically amazing, so it was a nice challenge.
Mahazi helped the Blue-Blacks avoid the drop down to the K League 2 by the slimmest of margins.
He admits experiencing the highs and lows of promotion and relegation was intense.
“It’s a very different experience and pressure that I’ve been used to obviously never being around that in the A-League,” he said.
“If you’re near the bottom with a few weeks left until the end of the season in the A-league you’re pretty much just playing to get to the end of the season, already with one eye on the next year.
“But having the possibility of relegation means that whether you’re at the top or at the bottom you, you always have something to play for.”
