Beckham, Zlatan, Pirlo - Padel is very popular with football legends
It's no surprise that tennis players feel comfortable on the padel courts. But former football greats like David Beckham , Zlatan Ibrahimovic and Andrea Pirlo have long since developed a taste for it.
by Robin Huiber
last edit:
Feb 25, 2022, 08:57 pm
Anything David Beckham touches turns to gold. And even if the first impressions from Miami may be deceptive: It can be assumed that the legendary cross and free-kick god is now also making a terrific figure in the padel box.
Andrea Pirlo was always an esthete on the soccer field. The Italian, who like Beckham ended his career in the USA, also proves that he has a fine hand in padel tennis.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic even goes one step further: The Swede is still in the service of AC Milan, with good prospects of winning the championship title this season. But Zlatan has already made provisions for the time after that: as the owner of a padel center in Uppsala in his home country of Sweden.
Peter Crouch, a former English national player, has also distinguished himself as an investor in the padel sport. Crouch has co-invested with Andy Murray in Game4Padel, a company aiming to improve the infrastructure for padel players in the UK.
Didi Hamann, who played for FC Bayern, FC Liverpool and of course also for the German national team, can also be seen in a padel cage from time to time. Then mostly at Hamann's side: Michael Leopold, with whom Hamann moderates the big live TV programs on Sky.