With the Olympics just around the corner, we began thinking about the alternate universe in which some of our top footballing stars had chosen other careers. Many have stated they likely would have never left their towns and settled into the regular working class lifestyles of their peers. However, there are some football players who possess too much talent for purely one sport, and have perhaps chosen football as the more lucrative or likely career, and left behind a potential alternative sporting career. Therefore, we wanted to put together a list of current and former footballers and some of the potential Olympic sports they could even to this day excel and challenge in.

If you have enjoyed our list, and have any other suggestions to add, head over to Twitter (@NextGoalWinBlog) and let us know who you think could hurdle, table tennis or equestrian their way to gold.

Sprinter – Adama Traoré

Of course the Wolves man is our choice for top sprinter, regularly clocking speeds in the mid 20mph range, just a few mph shy of the world record. Should the impressive football performances not cut it for Traoré, the track may just be a calling for the attacker.

Other names that could compete in sprinting would be Cristiano Ronaldo, Alphonso Davies, Kylian Mbappe and possibly even Marcus Rashford. We opted for Traoré simply due to his consistent blistering speeds, however if the footballing world ever try a sports day, the 100m sprint would be some contest.

Weightlifting – Adebayo Akinfenwa

Again another no brainer, but the now 39 year old Akinfenwa has been dominating the lower leagues of English football for years, with his fame coming form his immense strength and physical presence. Akinfenwa is a strong man quite simply, and from someone who has little/no idea about gyms or weight stuff, he looks like he could competitively lift heavy things, given what he has posted on social media in the past.

There are a few others who could surprise in the sport of weightlifting from the footballing world, however with modern diets and nutrition, there is nobody that is as physically dominant as the Wycombe man, and he would easily take home the gold in our fictional Olympics.

Boxing – Wayne Rooney

Now, this one is potentially questionable, with Derby manager and legendary English footballer Wayne Rooney being our selection for the boxing. It has been well documented and spoken about by Wayne himself regarding his interest in the sport of boxing, and had been known to train boxing in the past. The questions however for this choice may come from the infamous video of the, then Manchester United forward being ‘sparked out’ by Phil Bardsley, however his desire to fight the then Sunderland man in what appeared to be somebody’s kitchen/dining room suggests he has the ambition to compete in the sport. I would question his technique on the celebration against Tottenham however.

Golf – Harry Kane/Gareth Bale

Our potential list of golf candidates from the footballing world was endless, as for many footballers it is their main sport in terms of hours played, with the game being played by footballers for generations. We are however seeing the current crop of young players moving away from the game of golf due to potential injury inflicted on the body from the sport, however some current footballers still obsess over playing an 18-holes daily.

We selected Harry Kane and Gareth Bale as our contenders, as we simply couldn’t split the two (and Craig Bellamy was busy). Kane has shown his love for golf in recent times, culminating recently with the big interview with Gary Neville taking place on the golf course. Bale meanwhile bloody loves the sport, possibly more than anything else, openly stating golf comes ahead of his current club Real Madrid. Although I have no access to the actual number of golf games or hours spent on the course by these two, I strongly assume it would be up higher than any other footballer around, and likely higher than many actual golf pros.

Tennis – Paolo Maldini

Our final selection may initially come as a bit of a surprise, with the former and legendary Italian defender Maldini being our suggestion for the Tennis, however in 2017, Maldini qualified and competed in a professional tennis tournament in Milan, and although beaten in just 40 minutes, showed he has some talent to take on this challenge and compete as we would assume Maldini would.