Footballers with successful second careers | During their playing days, not after retirement

Blackwidow

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Didn't one of the Bayern guys make a fortune from running a sausage factory? Hoeness or Rummenigge I think.
Hoeness. But the money you could earn in the 60s and 70s often wasn't enough to retire on it so about everybody of them has a second career - in sports or outside. Some have sports shops. Sepp Maier a tennis center. One of that team has a shop for office accessoires. Kapellmann, one of the CL and World Cup winners of the 70s, is a doctor for orthopedic surgery who in his life has worked e.g. in Saudi Arabia and today works in a clinic in East Germany.

Tobias Rau - who played for Bayern from 2005 to 2007 and has 7 caps - stopped playing football 2009 age 28 to start to go to university and is a teacher today.
 

SilentWitness

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Flamini co-found a biochemical company that is doing well.
 

Thunderhead

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Thomas Graveson, bald Everton player has made a fortune in Vegas with bars and casino's
 

matt10000

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I remember reading that Gary Lineker was interested in TV career while still playing and spent spare time at 1990 world cup with TV crews learning as much as he could. Not sure what Gaza was up to?!?!
 

harms

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Hans Krankl, one of the greatest ever Austrian players, also had a singing career under the alias of Johann K. (well, his full name was Johann). The "Lonely Boy" got 2nd in the Austrian chart! He was still playing at the high level when all this happened by the way.


 
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harms

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Didn't one of the Bayern guys make a fortune from running a sausage factory? Hoeness or Rummenigge I think.
This reminded me of Ferenc Puskás (the greatest Hungarian footballer of all-time, Real Madrid legend et cetera et cetera), who ran his own sausage factory while he was playing for Madrid. It's quite ironic, considering that he always was, let's say it politely, prone to gaining additional weight. It didn't stop him from winning 3 European Cups and scoring 242 goals in 262 games for the club though.

He looks like a mafia don here, just with a sausage instead of a cigar :drool:




 

harms

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Gerard Pique is one of the founders of a huge production company called Kosmos.

They're investing $3 billion in the Davis Cup, they do a lot of media work with sportsmen and footballers — the most famous one was the Griezmann's video about his decision not to join Barcelona (I bet Barcelona's board was quite happy with Pique's involvement).
 

DavidDeSchmikes

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Troy Perkins (MLS goalkeeper) worked as mortgage loan processor
Ryan Bertrand founded Silicon Markets which is a Fintech brokerage firm
 

Ibi Dreams

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I doubt that he did anything with it while playing, but Arjen de Zeeuw had a degree in medical science and has apparently gone on to become a detective after his football career.
 

Full bodied red

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Didn't Lou Macari open his fish 'n' chip shop while he was still playing for us ??

Ray Clemence had a haulage / delivery company called ' In Safe Hands ' while he was England's GK.

Lots of players have had restaurants - Rio, Mata, Carragher come to mind straight away.

And Lee Bowyer had a carp fishing lake here in France.