Home of football statistics and historyWhile most professional footballers are satisfied if they have been able to forge a career in the sport, some have an irresistible itch to test themselves in other arenas. With that in mind, we look at some of the players who have found success in other sports, starting with one who is the true essence of ‘multi-talented athlete’.
Cricket
Charles Burgess (CB) Fry was a standout performer at Oxford University, captaining the football, athletics and cricket teams with distinction. He also excelled at rugby union and found time to prove himself as a golfer, boxer, tennis player, swimmer, sculler and javelin thrower.
Fry, who equalled the world long jump record in 1893, subsequently played football for Southampton, Portsmouth and England, but was forced to retire due to injury. He then focused on cricket, captaining both Sussex and England. Fry was unbeaten as England captain in Test matches and ended his career with more than 30,000 first-class runs to his name.
Poker
Numerous footballers have delved into the world of poker, but none have had quite the same level of success as former Danish player Jan Vang Sorensen. He started competing in tournaments in the 1990s and subsequently claimed two World Series of Poker (WSOP) bracelets after the turn of the century.
The World Series of Poker (WSOP) is one of the most prestigious poker tournament series. It is held annually in Las Vegas. Winning a WSOP bracelet, which is awarded to event winners, is considered one of the top achievements in the game.
Before moving to poker tournaments, Sorensen honed his craft by playing poker online variants with real money, laying down a template that several other footballers have copied. They include former Tottenham Hotspur and England striker Teddy Sheringham, who became a regular on the world poker scene after hanging up his boots, leaving his mark as an athlete who excelled at both sports and poker.
Golf
Despite having five Champions League successes on his career CV, Gareth Bale apparent ambivalence towards football attracted plenty of criticism from fans. The former Real Madrid forward foolishly fanned the flames after Wales secured qualification for the 2020 European Championship by beating Hungary.
Bale was pictured laughing behind a Wales flag bearing the words ‘Wales. Golf. Madrid. In that order’. Madrid fans were rightly infuriated with his antics. In fairness to Bale he is an excellent golfer and earned praise from Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy after playing in a Pro-Am event last year.
Ice Hockey
Former Chelsea and Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech grew up playing ice hockey before forging a hugely successful career in professional football. After retiring from the sport, he decided to fuel his first passion by signing for Guildford Phoenix in the National Ice Hockey League (South) Division 2 in 2019.
He won a treble with Phoenix in the 2021/22 season, before stepping up to Division 1 to play for Chelmsford Chieftains and Oxford City Stars. Cech subsequently signed to play for Belfast Giants in the Elite League, thus reaching the top level of another sport in the United Kingdom.
Motorsports
Jerzy Dudek put the shock of conceding three first half goals behind him to emerge as the hero in the penalty shoot-out as Liverpool won the 2004/05 Champions League. The Polish goalkeeper represented his country for the final time eleven years ago, before embarking on a new career in the high-octane world of motorsports.
He quickly made his mark behind the wheel, winning the Class 2 Championship of the 2013 German Touring Car Masters series. Dudek competed in the Volkswagen Castrol Cup in 2014 and has subsequently won numerous other races to demonstrate his driving talent.
Cricket
Cricket gets another mention on this list of multi-discipline footballers courtesy of Denis Compton – another man who shone in different arenas. He joined Arsenal as a 14-year-old amateur in 1932 and was just about to establish himself in the first team when the Second World War halted his progress.
Compton netted 74 goals in 120 war-time appearances for the club, but his sterling efforts are not recognised in official records. Despite that disappointment Compton sparkled as a cricketer. His standout year was in 1947, when he hit 3,816 runs for Middlesex and England at an average of 91, including 18 centuries.
Boxing
Curtis Woodhouse made his name in football with Sheffield United, before spending most of the rest of his career bouncing around the lower leagues. The midfielder had a chequered history littered with charges of theft, robbery and affray, and he eventually fell out of love with football.
He turned his attention to boxing in 2006 and built up an impressive record to earn a shot at the WBO Intercontinental welterweight title five years later. Woodhouse lost a split decision against Frankie Gavin, but eventually got his hands on a title by winning the British light-welterweight crown in 2014.
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