#10 Footballers Who Ventured Into Other Sports
Football is one of the most popular sports in the world, if not the most popular. And footballers are among the richest and most well-known sportspeople around the world. But in certain occasions, some Footballers decided to try other sports. Some did so, after retiring from football, while others did so while still into active football. See below:
1. Gabriel Batistuta
Nicknamed ‘Bati-goal,’ Batistuta was an Argentine forward who never stopped scoring goals. He retired from football in the year 2005 and decided to switch to polo.
2. Andriy Shevchenko
Shevchenko, who won the Ballon d’Or in 2004, is the current manager of Ukraine’s national football team. After he retired from football, he pursued a career in golf and even competed in the Kharkov Superior Cup.
3. Lev Yashin
Lev Yashin remains the only goalkeeper in history to be awarded the Ballon d’Or. Outside football, Yashin played as an ice hockey goalkeeper.
4. Ivan Perisic
Perisic just won the Champions League with Bayern Munich. And two years ago, he finished runner-up at the World Cup tournament. But do you know he is also a volleyball player and in the year 2017, even participated in a professional beach volleyball competition?
5. Joe Hart
English goalkeeper Joe Hart, who just recently joined Tottenham Hotspurs under Jose Mourinho, also has an interest in cricket, and once scored six runs while playing in Shrewsbury.
6. Jerzy Dudek
Ex-Liverpool goalkeeper Dudek, who was somewhat the hero of that night at Istanbul in 2005, following his amazing penalty saves, pursued a career in motor racing, following his retirement from football.
7. Bixente Lizarazu
1998 World Cup winner Lizarazu ventured into Martial Arts and even became European champion in one of the divisions in Jiu Jitsu.
8. Paolo Maldini
Widely considered as one of the best defenders of all time, Maldini also has an interest in tennis, and even competed in a tournament known as the Aplria Tennis Cup.
9. Petr Cech
Former Chelsea and Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech joined an Ice Hockey team known as Guildford Phoenix, following his departure from Arsenal in 2019.
10. Tim Wiese
Tim Wiese played as a goalkeeper for Bundesliga club Werder Bremen. But after retiring from football, he decided to give a shot at professional wrestling, and he signed for WWE, where he was known as “The Machine.”
