Steve Nash and his love for soccer

Steve Nash warms up before his try-out with Inter Milan in hopes of joining the Guinness International Champions Cup on Tuesday, July 30, 2013 in Whippany, New Jersey.

Steve Nash and soccer are as non-separable as Steve Nash and basketball. The 2-time NBA MVP, 8-time NBA ALL STAR, 7-time ALL NBA TEAM selection, 6-time Assist Leader in a regular season, 2-time ALL STAR Skill Challenge winner and the list goes on. Nash has also been honored with the Lou Marsh Trophy (Canadian Athlete Of The Year) 2005, the Lionel Conacher Award (Canadian Male Athlete of the Year 2002,2005,2006) three times and the J. Walter Kennedy Citizenship Award (NBA award for Outstanding Citizenship and Community services) 2007.

The Olympian is one of the best point guards of all time and a future Hall of Famer, but not all are aware of the outstanding love Nash has for the game of football.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrSqsA2TODw

Steve Nash actually contemplated a football career before deciding to focus on basketball full time.

STEVE NASH SOCCER

Steve Nash grew up playing soccer, and is a big time supporter of Tottenham Hotspur, as his father was born in that part of London. Nash has also stated that he could have played soccer professionally if he had focused a little more on the sport. Phew, close call for the fans.

Nash is good friends with many professional soccer players including Alessandro Del Piero, Thierry Henry, Owen Hargreaves and Steve McManaman. During off-seasons, Steve Nash lives in New York and trains with the local team, New York Red Bulls, of Major League Soccer. He has even tried to arrange a pick-up game against the team in New York’s Central Park.

Steve has also showed interest in owning a minority stake of some professional football club after his retirement. Nash is also a fan of the Brazilian football club Sporting Club Corinthians Paulista. When his former teammate Leonardo Barbosa visited Corinthians, the club gave him a shirt with Nash’s name and jersey number on it, back in 2007.

Apart from being a fan, Nash has also been working to support the game of soccer globally and promote the game. Nash has made positive efforts and succeeded in bringing Major League Soccer to Vancouver in 2011. He is part of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC team’s ownership.

Nash along with former YAHOO! president is a big time investor in Women’s Professional Soccer, a league started in March 2009. He has also co-hosted the “SHOW DOWN IN CHINATOWN”, an 8-on-8 charity football soccer game held at Roosevelt Park. He scored two goals for his team in an 8-5 victory.

At age 39 in 2013, Nash also participated in a tryout with the Italian soccer club INTER MILAN in New Jersey. He also sponsors an annual charity soccer game in June to raise money for underprivileged children.