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8 players who joined other sports after their retirement from football

The players' professional football careers are deemed to have ended when they announce they will be hanging up their boots. Some football stars, though, are using this as the beginning of a new journey in an entirely different sport.
Leey
By: Leey

1. Gareth Bale

Gareth Bale began professionally playing golf

Gareth Bale had a deep love for golf back when he played football. He picked up the poster with the slogan "Wales, Gold, Madrid, in that order."

He made the announcement that he would play in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am 2023 in February, early in 2023, barely two weeks after announcing his retirement. The former Welsh football player is playing in his first professional golf match.

2. Eric Cantona

Eric Cantona joined beach soccer

Cantona took over as captain of the French beach soccer squad not long after he officially retired in 1997. The legendary French football player is credited with laying the groundwork for the growth of the game in the hexagonal nation.

Cantona won two championships during his career, which lasted from 1997 to 2006: the 2004 European Championship and the 2005 World Cup.

3. Petr Cech

Petr Cech joined ice hockey

The Chelsea great joined Guildford Phoenix, an ice hockey side in the UK's fourth division, not long after announcing his retirement in October 2019. He produced a ton of incredible saves, including two in the penalty shootout on his debut, and was chosen as the game's MVP. He joined the Chelmsford Chieftains, the third-place team, in 2022.

4. Bixente Lizarazu

Bixente Lizarazu joined jiu-jitsu

After retiring, the 1998 World Cup and Euro 2000 champion engaged in professional jiu-jitsu. Lizarazu has also competed twice, even taking home the blue belt senior 1 European title in 2009 in Lisbon. In 2019, BJJ black belts Yannick Beven and Ze Marcello from Icon upgraded him to the rank of black belt.

5. Daniel Massaro

Daniel Massaro joined road racing competitions after retiring from football

Daniel Massaro won four league championships, three Italian Super Cups, two European Cups, three UEFA Super Cups, and two club world championships during his nine seasons at AC Milan (interspersed by a season at Rome). However, there are also many remarkable accomplishments with the national team, including the 1982 World Championship won without ever playing a game and the disappointing second-place finish in the USA in 1994.

The Italian beach soccer team was captained for many years by the 1982 world champion. Following his retirement, he took part in numerous road racing competitions in Italy and twice went to the WRC.

6. Fabien Bartholomew

Fabien Barthez joined motorsport

Barthez attempted a career in competitive motorsport after quitting football. Barthez began racing in 2008 and has since consistently achieved regional victories in France. He shared the 2013 National GT Championship with Morgan Moullin-Traffort. He participated at Le Mans for the first time in 2014 and placed 29th overall. He has since taken part in this competition three times.

7. Manfred Burgsmuller

Manfred Burgsmuller joined American football

Burgsmuller, a former player for Dortmund who amassed more than 200 goals in the Bundesliga, made the decision to play American football. He joined Rhein Fire in NFL Europe at the age of 51. The deceased German athlete played in this sport from 1998 to 2000. He won two World Bowl championships at this time.

8. Gabriel Batistuta

Gabriel Batistuta

In September 2014, the ex-player for the German national team started working as a performer. In November 2016, he made his stage debut during a WWE live event in Munich. He faced The Shining Stars and Bo Dallas that day alongside Sheamus and Cesaro. He left his job in 2017.

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Leey
Written by: Leey
Leey is the reporter for Betimate. She currently has a series of articles about football. She specializes in researching football data to come up with evaluations about the tournament and predictions about the matches.

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