Investing in businesses and extreme sports, former Chelsea star Andre Schurrle leads a new life since retirement

For most of us winning the World Cup and playing top level football is a dream we'd never want to end but for Andre Schurrle it was enough for him to call time on his playing career at 29-years-old.

Being a footballer has a relatively short shelf life, with footballers made to feel over the hill by the time they reach the grand old age of about 33.

It's galling for those of us slightly above that threshold trying to cling on to our youth to hear that a 35-year-old is some sort of ancient artifact on the pitch.

Once a footballer does hang up their boots there's only a limited number of options, become a pundit like Gary Neville, a manager like Steven Gerrard or do something crazy like Thomas Gravesen.

The former Everton midfielder had a crazy enough life whilst he was still playing football, becoming the world's best Call of Duty player and having a pornstar girlfriend.

But it's not just Gravesen has gone down the road less travelled on his way out of football, with former Liverpool man Daniel Agger also doing similar.

Neither of those men ever reached the heights of winning the World Cup however which is something Schurrle managed with Germany in 2014, providing the assist for Mario Gotze's extra time winning goal in the final.

Three years ago, before he turned 30, the forward announced he was stepping away from football saying: "I no longer need the applause. The depths became deeper and the highlights less and less."

Despite that the 32-year-old has clearly not lost his competitive edge or the need for fitness, taking part in some extreme sport challenges.

Last January Schurrle took part in a challenge organised by designed by Dutch extreme athlete Wim Hof which saw him hiking in minus 19 degree temperatures.

He explained on his social media that he'd been walking in 100 km/h winds and through snow and rain in the 'hardest mental and physical thing' he'd done.

That challenge saw him walking up the Sniezka Mountains, the highest point in Czechia, 1,603m above sea level, pretty extreme stuff.

And the experience clearly didn't put him off doing more things of a similar ilk, with the German posting more pictures and videos of his extreme walks.

Just a couple of days ago he posted footage of him climbing up Germany's highest mountain in the dark and fog, holding on to ropes as he climbed up, saying: "Life is too short to do what everybody else does!"

But it's not just extreme sports that have kept the scorer of one of the Premier League's most underrated goals going since his retirement.

Schurrle has also become a pretty astute businessman during his three years away from the game, learning to invest his money well.

Back in 2020 the former Fulham star teamed up with Gotze again to invest in German based cannabis company Sanity Group, along with Black Eyes Peas frontman Will.I.Am.

That's not his only investment either with the extreme sports lover having also invested in Sorare, a cryptocurrency based fantasy sports video game.

And he and Gotze are also investors in German based pizza company Happy Slice, which has a number of venues across the country.

It's very different to what footballers normally do after calling it a day.