Former Chelsea and Arsenal goalkeeper Petr Cech has signed to play for an ice hockey side.
The 37 year old retired from playing with Arsenal at the end of last season, and then accepted a role with former club Chelsea to become their Technical Director.
However, it seems that the lure to play competitive sport is still strong for the ex-Czech international, and he has now signed up with Guildford Phoenix, who play in the second division of Britain’s National Ice Hockey League, as a goaltender.
Cech, who is a big fan of ice hockey, will train in and around his new team when his commitments with Chelsea allow. He will become third choice goaltender for Phoenix.
During his time in England as a professional footballer, Cech won four Premier League titles, five FA Cups, three League Cups, the Champions League and the Europa League.
Explaining the move Cech said “Luckily my job at Chelsea doesn’t stop me in my spare time from playing the game I loved as a kid and which I’ve been playing for years. While being a professional footballer I couldn’t play the game for obvious reasons. Now I can.”
Guildford’s next game is against the Swindon Wildcats 2 on Sunday.
Andy is an exiled English football fan living in Cyprus. He loves all sports but football is his abiding passion, and he still has dreams every now and then about scoring the winning goal in a Wembley Cup Final, even though his playing days are long gone. He follows most major leagues, across Europe at least, and has a favoured team in each. When he’s not watching, listening, reading or downloading podcasts about football, he spend his time worrying about his beloved Arsenal.