The 2019/20 football season saw significant downtime worldwide between the unexpected halt in training sessions and match attendances. For some famous soccer players, writing children’s books, baking a cake or designing a dress were hobbies that were enjoyed in this unusual spare time.

Christiano Ronaldo

Bingo

Portuguese footballer Christiano Ronaldo was revealed to be a keen bingo player back in 2008, telling a Portuguese newspaper how exciting it was to wait for just a single number to complete a game. Ronaldo’s love of this game began after he received a bingo DVD as a gift at Christmas in 2003.

After he was signed up to join Manchester United, Ronaldo used bingo and other games to improve his English. It has yet to be confirmed whether he searched topnewcasinosonline.com for some of the newest entertainment platforms. The new online operators have adopted the newest industry regulations to ensure transparency, fair outcomes when gambling, and ensure that private information is kept safe.

Petr Cech

Drumming

Former Arsenal and Chelsea goalkeeper Petr Cech is now an advisor for Chelsea and a semi-professional ice hockey player. The Czech native also has a YouTube channel on which he posts video of his drumming and has played alongside Roger Taylor, the drummer in Queen had has performed Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit at a music festival in the Czech Republic.

Mortiz Voltz

Baking

Germany’s Mortiz Voltz and former Arsenal and Fulham defender now works as an assistant coach with RB Leipzig and in his spare time writes a blog of his cooking. A cult hero at Fulham, Voltz used to bake cakes before the games, choosing a light biscuit-based cake with bananas and a dusting of green tea for matches against big names like Arsenal or Manchester United and carrot cake with nuts for other teams, which he carried to each home game on his bicycle. 

Michael Owen

Jigsaws

Manchester United’s Michael Owen was teased by his team-mates for his love of 1,000-piece jigsaws. The former Liverpool and England striker once posted a photo of jigsaw pieces scattered across a table, and tweeted that he was ‘about to embark on the biggest challenge of his life’. It was a picture of a horse.

Xavi

Mushroom foraging

Winner of the World Cup with Spain in 2010, Xavi is now 40 years old and enjoys mushroom-hunting in the mountains of Catalonia, able to identify them all.

Laurent Koscielny

Scrabble

At Euro 2016, Arsenal skipper Laurent played many games of Scrabble with his French teammates Olivier Giroud and  Hugo Lloris.

Dimitar Berbatov

Caricatures

In 2012, the now-retired Bulgarian striker posted on Facebook some clever caricatures he had drawn, including Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone in The Godfather, Snoop Dogg and Bruce Willis. Whilst the pencil drawings were good, it later transpired that he was drawing copies of caricatures already imagined by other people.

Theo Walcott

Children’s author

Everton winger Theo Walcott is an accomplished author of several children’s books as well as a respected soccer player. His books are about a boy named TJ who is an ambitious young football player. The books aim to promote an interest in sport and have become widespread and popular in the UK.

Andrey Arshavin

Fashion Design

The famous Russian footballer and former Arsenal player Andrey Arshavin designs the latest women’s fashion, using the skills learned as part of his degree in Fashion Design. Whilst he supports women’s fashion, he does not support their driving, stating in 2009, that women should be banned from this activity.