Football being the incredibly physical sport that it is, eventually ends up taking a toll on a lot of the athletes’ body; which is why it’s no surprise that the average outfield player ends up retiring somewhere around the age of 35. Goalkeepers fare slightly better in this regard, with most peaking around 30 and usually calling it curtains in either their late 30’s or early forties; usually having to cope with far lesser strains and wear and tear on their bodies.
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It’s therefore quite common to hear that a lot of them end up pursuing other interests or careers after football, whether it be because the gloss of a stuttering football career eventually teetered out, or because a promising career failed to live up to expectations due to insurmountable pressure, or a serious injury ruined chances of a career in the beautiful game.
It may also have been that these particular men wanted to try out other avenues of sport and ended up doing surprisingly well.
Here, we present to you a list 5 of footballers who took up other sports and managed to perfect them.
#5 Gabriel Batistuta
One of Argentina’s most revered strikers, Batistuta is known for his exploits with Italian side Fiorentina. He made La Viola’s purple shirt famous alongside Portugal international, Rui Costa.
Batistuta scored 207 goals in 332 games for Fiorentina, missing out on Kurt Hamrin’s all-time record of 208 by just 1 goal. After retirement, Batistuta experienced severe pain in his legs, with much of the cartilage damaged from a long career in football. The pain was reportedly so bad that the striker asked the doctors to amputate his limbs and wet the bed because he couldn’t stand up.
Unsurprisingly, he has lost his passion for the game, despite having earned his coaching badges. Instead, he took up polo, training with Adolfo Cambiasso – the world’s number one ranked player – and ended up netting a brace on his debut.
He now owns a team called ‘La Gloria,’ and of course, they play in purple.
#4 Leon McKenzie
Leon McKenzie scored 115 goals in 393 games at club level, winning promotion to the Premier League with Norwich City in 2005.
However, his career was stalled by recurring injuries and he dropped down the divisions with clubs such as Charlton Athletic, Northampton Town and Coventry City.
With his personal life in disarray and constant money worries, McKenzie saw no way out and tried to commit suicide at the age of just 31. His father, Clinton, saved his life and kept Leon by his side in the boxing gym he ran; eventually encouraging his son to don the gloves himself. Clinton had fought Sugar Ray Leonard at the 1976 Olympics and he took up the job of training Leon himself.
McKenzie fought for the first time in 2013, winning 8 and drawing 1 of his first 9 fights, picking up an International Masters belt, before finally losing his first game last month.
However, the record seems insignificant in this instance, with boxing giving him a new lease on life; quite literally.
#3 Fabien Barthez
A Champions League, Premier League, Ligue 1, Euro 2000, and World Cup winner, Fabien Barthez had a footballing career most can only dream of. The French keeper kept an incredible 10 cleansheets at the World Cup, a record held jointly with England great, Peter Shilton. He was also made a French Knight in 1998 for his role in helping France win the World Cup that year.
A long-time fan of motor sport, Barthez began competing in 2008, joining the French GT Championship; which in won in 2013 in a Ferrari 458. In 2014, he competed in the Le Mans 24 hour event, placing a respectable 29th out of 55 competitors. In 2016, he bettered that significantly by finishing 12th.
He arguably still has some way to go to match his achievements on a football pitch, but he has seamlessly made a transition into the world of motoring.
#2 Tim Wiese
Tim Wiese played as a goalkeeper in his native Germany, turning out for the likes of FC Kaiserslautern, Werder Bremen – where he won the German Cup alongside names such as Mesut Ozil and Claudio Pizzaro – and Hoffenheim, eventually retiring after the 2013/14 season. He also made 6 appearances for the German national side and later in his career had turned down an opportunity to be the number 2 at Real Madrid, citing reasons of declining performances.
Wiese’s enormous 6’4, 115-kg frame made him a perfect fit for professional wrestling. The German spent two years at the WWE Performance Center, gaining a further 25 kg, before eventually making his debut in Germany in November 2016.
Now nicknamed ‘The Machine,’ Wiese made a winning start to his WWE career, showing off his signature move dubbed ‘the bodysplash.’
#1 Toni Fritsch
A small and speedy striker, the Austrian spent 8 years at Rapid Vienna, playing 123 games but scoring only 15 goals. He also scored 2 goals in 9 appearances for the Austrian national team. However, no one at the club expected Fritsch to have a great sporting legacy when he left the club in 1971.
The Dallas Cowboys were on a European tour looking for a new kicker and Fritsch happened to be the first player that they scouted. At that point, the forward had never touched an American football, nor ever watched a game. However, he managed to impress then coach Tom Landry, and signed on for them as a free-agent.
Fritsch ended up spending 12 seasons in the NFL. He spent 4 of them at the Cowboys, where he won a Superbowl – making him the only Austrian ever to get a ring – and was selected for the league’s all-star game in 1980, while he was at the Houston Oilers.
He infamously pulled off a rabona once, becoming the only man to ever do so in the NFL. He retired from his second career in 1985, eventually passing away in 2005.
