When footballers step off the pitch and onto the silver screen, it can be very unexpected, incredibly entertaining, and sometimes just really weird. Obviously, it’s not unusual for sports stars to appear in documentaries or promo films and adverts, etc, but actual proper cameos in real movies are a lot less common. Yet, there have been a few brave, bold (or crazy) footballers who have turned their hand to a bit of acting… with varying degrees of success.
So, with that being said, let’s take a look at the most surprising football player cameos in movies ever.
Zinedine Zidane – Asterix at the Olympic Games
Zinedine Zidane is considered to be one of the greatest midfielders ever – and is more famous for topping the Champions League odds than the Box Office hits. Well, he made a memorable and pretty comedic appearance in the French film Asterix at the Olympic Games playing a character called “Numérodix” – a Roman athlete with a tunic and ancient haircut.
It’s a lot different from the serious side of him we saw at the 1998 World Cup, but his cameo definitely showed that he could laugh at himself (and earn a few bucks for doing so, we should think)!
Eric Cantona – Elizabeth
Long before Zidane tried it out, his fellow Frenchman and Man United legend Eric Cantona had already looked at starting a career in acting. The enigmatic football star, with a knack for Kung Fu, played a French nobleman in the Oscar-nominated film Elizabeth, alongside Cate Blanchett.
And it wasn’t too bad, as he’s now earned himself a reputation as a pretty serious actor, appearing in all sorts of French-language films.
David Beckham – King Arthur: Legend of the Sword
David Beckham is many things to many people. To football fans, he’s arguably one of the most iconic English players ever, thanks to his time at Man U and his captaincy of the England football team. He’s been a model, an ambassador – and he’s literally everywhere you look, alongside his wife Vicky and the brood of nepo children. And he’s also responsible for possibly the most unexpected cameos ever, when he randomly popped up in King Arthur: Legend of the Sword.
Beckham played a gruff and rough medieval soldier with a heavily cockney accent and facial prosthetics. The scene was brief, but his appearance caused a stir online – with all sorts of different opinions (not all of them favourable, to be honest). While he’s definitely been on television a lot, seeing him in a gritty fantasy battle scene looking a bit worse for wear was definitely a bit of a curveball.
Pelé – Escape to Victory
We obviously have to mention arguably the most legendary footballer cameo of all time, which we think belongs to Pelé, who starred with Sylvester Stallone and Michael Caine in the iconic WWII football movie, Escape to Victory. In the film, the Allied POWs take on a Nazi team in a propaganda match, and Pelé plays the part of Luis Fernandez, a prisoner and footballer.
The script may be dated and melodramatic, but his role was actually pretty physical, and it showed off that famous bicycle kick in one of the movie’s best scenes. It also had Bobby Moore and Ossie Ardiles – making it a real football cult classic.
Neymar – xXx: Return of Xander Cage
Finally – last, but not least, we have Neymar Jr., the Brazilian superstar who knows how to steal the spotlight when playing for Barcelona and PSG – and he shocked his fans when he had a cameo in Vin Diesel’s big box-office action film xXx: Return of Xander Cage. Playing a much more stylised version of himself (so not much acting really required), Neymar uses his famous football tricks to take down the bad guys in a diner before he gets recruited into a spy organisation.
The scene was a bit weird – but undeniably entertaining, and it did let him get his name on the credits!
So, there you have it – some of the craziest and most entertaining movie cameos by footballers ever. Here’s to more!