Arjen Robben Turns Professional in New Sport Four Years After Football Retirement

More often than not, former professional footballers will transition into coaching after retirement. It is, after all, the natural progression given their extensive background in the game.

Arjen Robben, on the other hand, has decided against pursuing that typical route in an attempt to conquer another sport.

The 41-year-old former Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Chelsea winger, who retired from football for the second time in July 2021 after coming back to play for boyhood side Groningen, is making a name for himself in the world of padel.

Padel's popularity has surged over the past few years. In fact, it was recently deemed “the fastest-growing sport in the world” by the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), with around 25 million people getting involved globally.

One of those is Robben, whose passion for padel began when he was playing for Bayern Munich. "I used to play three times a week when I was in Germany," he said.

The eight-time Bundesliga winner continued to work on his game and back in August this year, he won his first ranking points as a professional after entering the FIP Bronze Westerbork tournament, which is part of the CUPRA FIP Tour.

Here, he and his partner, Werner Lootsma, reached the main draw of the competition after recording a 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 victory over Ralph Boekema and Mark Weldmate.

Unfortunately for the pair, they were knocked out at the last-32 stage by Sten Richters and Thijs Roper, who are ranked world number 155 and 144 respectively.

That being said, the former Netherlands international was praised by his opponents after the match. "He's the best former professional footballer we know who plays padel," they said in their post-match interview.

Robben knows he's at the very start of his journey in the sport.

"I don't think I can take myself too seriously," he said after the defeat to Richters and Roper. "I started with low expectations. But I tried to fight on the court, and score as many points as possible."

At the time of writing, Robben is ranked 1,980 in the world with three ranking points.

Ultimately, he hopes to help grow the sport in his home country. “I talked about it a few times with my wife," he said. "Zlatan Ibrahimovic made padel an important sport in Sweden. I think I can do the same in the Netherlands."

Arjen Robben is also a keen runner

The former Chelsea winger has previously described completing the Rotterdam Marathon as coming "very close to winning a football title".

Back in 2022, Robben took part in his first-ever marathon in Rotterdam alongside Erben Wennemars, a former Dutch speed skater, and completed the gruelling 26.2-mile course in three hours, 13 minutes and 40 seconds.

Robben went on to beat his time a year later, crossing the finish line in two hours and 58 minutes, which equates to 4.23 minutes per kilometre.

"I'm really broken, but I made it," Robben told NOS after the race. “This comes very close to winning a great football title. Awesome, I can check this one off.”