Updated on July 13, 2026 at 04:23 PM
As anyone who has paid even the slightest attention to the World Cup knows, elite footballers are fantastic athletes. Not only are they agile and strong, they run a lot — up to 12,000 per game, according to One data set. Many of them spend entire 90-minute football matches in near-constant movement, ranging from intense jogging to slow running.
“Soccer is all about how fast can you get to top speed (or another difficult moment like dribbling or shooting), and then how fast can you get your heart rate and body down again,” says Mana Shim, who played for the better part of a decade in the National Women’s Soccer League and represented Team USA in international under-23 competition.
If this sounds like the perfect combination of high-intensity and high-intensity interval training to build your body into an aerobic powerhouse, it is. 2019 Meta-analysis Of 17 studies that included a total of 2,385 elite, professional and international male soccer players, I found that these players had an average VO2max (a measure of aerobic capacity) ranging from 58 to 63. (The average varied between the 17 studies.)
To put this into perspective, a VO2max of 58 is near the upper end of ranges For good recreational athletes. It’s also about what you’d expect from a marathon runner to run 2:45 in today’s superior shoes. A VO2max of 63 is what you would expect from a 2:33 marathon runner. (VO2max is also important for bike and swimming, but the correlation is not quite direct, because good technique can compensate for low VO2max and vice versa.) And 58 to 63 was just the average. Some players in these studies were much higher.
The bottom line is that all of this sounds like the perfect setup for a smooth transition into triathlon for professional triathletes looking for a post-retirement hobby after hanging up their boots.
It definitely works for high school and college football players. One of its biggest advantages is “what I would call fatigue resistance,” says the USAT Elite Level 3 trainer. Mike Ritchiefrom Boulder, Colorado, has worked with several former football players, including an NCAA Division 2 football player who became a professional athlete.
He says this resistance to fatigue comes from spending entire matches on the field, match after match. Not only does this teach them speed, he says, but when they participate in a triathlon, “their legs look like, Well, I got this. I used to do this all day long.“
But at the professional elite level, things are different.
Famous football players who became triathletes
That’s not to say there aren’t a few who have made the shift. But when they do, they rarely attract attention.
Perhaps the most elite example is Andre Schurrle, who played for Germany in the 2014 World Cup final and provided the assist that won Germany the game, 1-0, in extra time. After retiring at the age of 29, Schurrle took on endurance challenges and Train for Roth Challenge 2025, a popular iron distance triathlon in Bavaria, Germany. He has withdrawn from the 2025 race due to a Family conflictBut he promised to return sometime in the future.
Others include:
- Luis Enrique. He was a midfielder for Real Madrid and Barcelona. He retired from football in 2004 and three years later finished with the Ironman team in Frankfurt. 10:19:30.
- Michael Ball. A goalkeeper for various teams at the highest level of Austrian football, and later coach of the Austrian national team, Pahl competed in triathlons into his 40s, making his debut with 5:32:46 at the 2007 Ironman 70.3 St. Pölten. Since then, he has returned at least a dozen times, with a PR 4:41:04 At the age of 46 in 2013.
- Diego Ribas da Cunha. An Olympic bronze medalist for Brazil in 2008, Diego Ribas moved into triathlon after retirement and finished in 4:47:26 At the Rio de Janeiro 2025 Ironman 70.3 Championships at the age of 40.
- Brian McChrystal. Brian McChrystal. At one time, McChrystal was a player for one of the most prestigious football clubs in the UK (Leeds United), and he left football at an age when American players were still in college. He then got into cycling, followed by triathlon, where he raced as a professional from 2012 to 2019. He may be the only world-class triathlete, a former footballer, with a time of 140.6. 8:07:37 at the 2018 Ruth Challenge, and 7:51:18 at the IRONMAN Cork 2019, Ireland.
For soccer players, it’s sink or swim in triathlon
Ritchie says the biggest problem World Cup level soccer players face in transitioning to triathlon is swimming. Not only is it the most technical sport in triathlon, but elite male triathletes tend to be thin and muscular, meaning they probably won’t float well, compounding the difficulties they face.
“I didn’t know how to swim at all at first,” Pal admitted. Promotional materials For St. Bolton.
However, swimming is the smallest part of the race, which means that as long as the soccer player making this transition can emerge from the water with enough energy to bike and run, being the greatest swimmer may not be so critical. “There was a time when no one qualified for Kona could swim more than an hour (except in the older age groups),” says Ritchie. “But now, with people coming who are cycling and running, there are really bad times to swim.”
Ritchie says cycling also has its technical elements, but is easier to learn, at least in non-draft races. “I’ve seen (soccer players) come into triathlons and have really good power numbers on the bike, right off the bat,” he says.
One thing that Richie doesn’t think plays a role is the fact that football is a lot of things Lateral movement and changes in direction, whereas triathlon is mostly straight. Yes, there’s a difference, but Ritchie says it’s actually an advantage because it trains a lot of the smaller “accessory” muscles that are involved in balance and resisting fatigue — something athletes should do in training, but often neglect.
There are a number of reasons why elite footballers, despite exceptions such as Enrique, Bale and Diego Ribas, are unlikely to do all that well in triathlon. Part of it has to do with the positions they play, Shim says. Some “have to cover a lot of ground,” she says, while others don’t have to run as much. Those who run more during matches (and perhaps during training) such as outside backs, wingers and central midfielders, are the ones who are likely to have an easier transition.
However, Shim believes she ran more in college than she did in the pros. “As you progress in soccer, there is less random running,” she says. On a professional level, she says: “It’s very precise and deliberate. I decided to move based on where I thought the ball would be on the next two passes.” “At the lower levels, you have to run because the ball will turn over all the time as you chase it,” she says.
The biggest factor is whether or not most elite soccer players would do so He wants To make the transformation.
The “beep test” and other mental hurdles
Part of the equation is psychological, Shim says. One notorious fitness test for footballers is the whistling test, a fitness test in which players run back and forth on a 20-metre pitch, faster and faster, with starting positions often at stake for those who last the longest. It’s easy to relate this to getting to the starting line of any kind, Shim says. “You’re like, Why would I do this to myself again?“
Swimming and cycling can also have negative associations, she says, because no professional can play an entire career without suffering at least one injury that forces him to train in the pool, on a bike, or run “straight ahead.” This could be good practice for a future life in triathlon, but she says: “It’s usually because you’ve had an injury, so a lot of elite soccer players don’t have very positive associations with the bike, the pool, running forward. We really don’t want to do cardio without the ball.”
Another problem is the injuries themselves. When I spoke to her for this article, Shim was recovering from a torn medial collateral ligament and a partially torn meniscus, caused by an unofficial post-retirement match. “We all have injuries,” she says of herself and her fellow former professionals. That means it’s not swimming or cycling that will stop her from competing in a triathlon, she says, but rather running: “My teammates can’t run long distances anymore.”
Another factor that might prevent soccer players from taking up triathlons, even if they are in the lucky minority whose joints still allow it, as Elise Lagerstrom, a professional triathlete turned elite marathoner, points out, is that soccer is a team sport, while triathlon is an individual sport.
Shim agrees. “It’s not as stimulating as playing with people who are doing it at that level,” she says. “You like the feel of the ball, the challenge of reading the game tactically, and the team aspect.”
The shift from the shared camaraderie and tactical complexity of a team environment to the solitary grind of solo racing is an obstacle that many pros simply aren’t interested in clearing.
For the World Cup legend, competing in a post-retirement triathlon may be a physical possibility, but without the ball, the team and the tactical excitement, it may never capture the heart.
