By Theodoros II, Paste Magazine
Some indisputably good-looking gentlemen have played professional soccer. In fact, some of the high-cheekboned men who bring new meaning to the phrase “the beautiful game” could quite easily have made their fortune being photographed instead of doing all that running around. Some of them did just that, supplementing their soccer paycheck by modeling for various high-end fashion companies. Here are nine men who posed for the camera between matches, and one who turned down multiple offers to do so.
David Beckham
1. David Beckham
How could we not start with Becks? You might not see him in the top 10 or even 20 players of all time in terms of skill, but his fame and glory far surpass his athletic abilities. David Beckham slipped comfortably into a second career as an underwear model, first for Emporio Armani and then for an eponymous collection sold through the retailer H&M.
Becks’ celebrity has transcended soccer and he’s amassed an incredible fortune thanks to his multimillion-dollar contracts with and commercials for brands such as Adidas, Brylcreem, Coty, H&M, Sainsbury’s and Samsung.
2. Fredrik Ljungberg
Freddie is another famous soccer player who did some moonlighting as a model when he became the face of Calvin Klein underwear in 2003, which was reportedly one of the brand’s most successful campaigns ever. He remained a model for Calvin Klein until 2007, but also represented Nike, L’Oréal, Procter & Gamble, Puma, ESPN and Pepsi. Not bad for a 5’9” player from Sweden, right?
3. Cristiano Ronaldo
Cristiano Ronaldo is currently the best, most famous, and one of the highest-earning soccer players in the world, and he’s got the looks and amazing body to go with. Furthermore, he’s dating with one of the hottest and most beautiful women on earth, Irina Shayk. So what more could a man ask from life? The answer, in this case, is his own underwear line. See, Cristiano followed in Beckham’s footsteps when he signed a contract to be an Emporio Armani underwear model. However, the Portuguese superstar wasn’t happy with just being a model and in 2013 he got his own line of underwear named—what else?—CR7.
4. David Ginola
This man, ladies and gents, is the one who started the whole soccer player/male model thing. You probably don’t know him and you definitely won’t see him on any lists of the greatest soccer players ever, but back in the early ‘90s he was soccer’s answer to Jennifer Aniston. He played with panache for Paris Saint-Germain, Newcastle United, Tottenham Hotspur and more, dribbling down wings with his famous flowing locks trailing behind him in the wind, and made numerous commercials for Cerruti, Morgan, Braun razors, Carte Noire coffee, Renault cars and—of course—L’Oréal hair products.
5. Paolo Maldini
Paolo Maldini is arguably one of the greatest defenders in the history of the sport and one of the most decorated footballers since he won pretty much every major club trophy there is with Milan, including five Champions League trophies, as well as seven Italian Serie A titles. Known for his piercing blue eyes, perfectly timed interceptions and being a total gentleman, Paolo Maldini became not only the fans’ favorite player … he was plenty popular for many non-soccer-related reasons, but refused to cash in. Even though Maldini received numerous proposals from top Italian fashion designers, such as Armani and Versace, to promote their clothes, he always kindly refused by reminding them that his place was on the soccer field and not the catwalk.
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