Footballers that could have excelled in other sports
Wayne Rooney - boxing
During his adolescent years, the Manchester United and England captain was a keen boxer, having joined professional boxing training for a few years in his youth. He has attributed his footballing heroics on the pitch to the extensive amount of boxing training he endured while growing up.
Rooney managed to balance both sports up until the age of 15, when he was advised to choose one by his then club, Everton. As we know, he opted for football, however he still holds boxing close to his heart.
“I've always loved watching boxing and I went boxing training for about three or four years when I was younger. It's a sport I've always been involved in."
Joe Hart - cricket
The ex-England goalkeeper was somewhat of a cricketing virtuoso, having spent two years playing with Worcestershire's youth squad alongside former England international Steven Davies. His former coach, Damian D'Oliveira believed he had all the attributes to make a stellar cricketer - he was tall, 6"2, and could swing bowl at around 85mph.
Of course, he decided to pursue a career in football, which for a number of years paid off. Although, he may well regret that he didn't go for cricket, as he has seen a rather rapid fall from grace in recent years.
Phil Neville - cricket
As it turns out, Joe Hart is not the only famous footballing face to have been somewhat of a cricketing prodigy. Former England footballer, Phil Neville boasts an even more impressive cricketing repertoire than that of Hart's, having captained England's U-15 squad.
Neville also claimed the well-deserved title of youngest ever player to represent Lancashire's second XI. This team also included a certain Andrew "Freddie" Flintoff. Both Phil Neville and Flintoff went on to represent Lancashire's U-19s and some said that Neville was better than Flintoff at the time.
Whilst Flintoff pursued his career in cricket, quite successfully, Phil Neville opted for football and managed to forge a rather illustrious career for himself, too.
Gareth Bale - athletics and ruby
The Real Madrid forward has certainly done well for himself on the football field but, growing up in Cardiff, he was spoilt for choice when it came to his sports. He excelled at rugby, hockey and especially athletics, recording a time of just 11.4 seconds for the 100m at the age of 14.
He was classmates with Sam Warburton, and gave the Welsh rugby international a run for his money during their school days. However, it's safe to say that football was the right choice for the Welshman, considering that he became the world's most expensive player in 2013 when he moved to Real Madrid.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic - taekwondo
By the tender age of 17, the Swedish footballing superstar had achieved a black belt in taekwondo. Despite pursuing an extremely prosperous career on the football pitch, he continued to practice his taekwondo whilst playing for Juventus in Italy and was awarded an honorary black belt by the Italian national taekwondo team in 2010.
