Football is definitely a sport everyone loves to get affiliated with, and has a lot of followership all over the globe.
That is basically the reason why when one gets the opportunity at the highest level, you channel your focus to try and succeed in the game due to the revenue and frenzy it generates. In this article thus, we look at the footballers who quit the game to get greener pastures in other professions;
- Tom Wiese – Wrestling;
Former Germany goalkeeper Tim Wiese was officially unveiled as the WWE’s latest superstar recruit after he hung up his gloves and stepped into the ring. Wiese made six appearances for Germany’s national team between 2008 and 2012.
After retiring from professional football, the 32-year-old suddenly ballooned and put on an incredible amount of muscle, which made him move to the squared-circle to become a professional wrestler.
- Bixente Lizarazu – Jiu Jitsu
Lizarazu, was also a great player in an entirely different sport: Brazilian jiu jitsu. The Frenchman of Basque descent helped his country with the 1998 FIFA World Cup in his home country. Lizarazu also won the Champions League with German giants Bayern Munich in 2001. The 5 foot 7 Frenchman competed in the European Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Open in Lisbon, Portugal in 2009.
- George Weah – Politician
He remains the only African to ever win FIFA’s prestigious Ballon d’Or award for the world’s best footballer. In mid-November 2004, Weah ran in the October 2005 presidential election. He received a hero’s welcome upon his arrival in Monrovia in late November and was widely considered a favorite in the election, and was was the candidate for the Congress for Democratic Change.
- Gaizka Mendieta – Disc Jockey (DJ)
A vital cog of the Valencia side that lost back to back Champions League finals and one of the many megastars that inexplicably wound up at Middlesbrough around the turn of the century, Mendieta used DJing, often doing so incognito, as the perfect release from the pressures of elite football.Not to be confused with floppy haired DJ doppelganger David Guetta, Mendieta famously played at the Benicassim festival last summer.
- Jose Manuel Pinto – Music Producer
Former Barcelona goalkeeper Jose Pinto revealed in 2012 that he has signed up to produce an album for rap group Delahoja. He made this known via his Twitter account.”Contract signing (after 22 years in the shadows as a producer) with Sony Music Spain,” Pinto wrote.”Just one example that work, humility, perseverance, enthusiasm…your dreams, whatever [they are], can be met. No matter what, no matter how small or large it may be, no matter what they say, what matters is that you enjoy it and be happy.”Pinto has been working with the group for nearly two decades.
- Eric Cantona – Actor
The first foreign superstar of the Premiership era, King Eric wowed and shocked footy fans with his breath-taking skill and semi regular outbursts of comic violence.Cantona eventually grew tired of the off pitch restraint that football demanded of players and packed in the game at just 30 years old, turning his attention to acting full-time.
- Pablo Osvaldo – Musician
Dani Osvaldo has apparently turned his back on football – so he can devote more time to playing in his band.The journeyman Argentine-Italian, best known for picking fights with opponents and team-mates alike, was offered a two-year contract on deadline day by Chievo.But the 30-year-old striker turned down the Sh283.5mn-a-year offer in order to spend more time indulging his musical passions.
- Herald Battbakk – Pilot
A prolific scorer for Rosenborg, netting 146 goals in 155 appearances for the club before moving to Celtic, Harald Brattbakk now soars above the clouds rather than defenders as a pilot for Norwegian Air. “I always loved football, but I never really believed that I could make a career of it.I didn’t really think of flying either. At that stage, lawyer was definitely the job I had my eye on. I actually tried to go back in for some law studies when I returned to Norway after playing for Celtic, but by that time our second child had come along and I didn’t have much time.”
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