From Soccer to Politics

President of Liberia was a position for which George Weah was eminently unqualified when he ran for election in 2005. He never completed high school and had no political experience. Liberia was mired in a state of despair, coming off of years of civil war which had divided the country and crippled the economy of the west African nation. Yet despite all of this, Weah finished a respectable second in the run-off election (after winning the first round). George Weah had something that no other candidate could match: a glowing career in soccer.

Surprisingly, George Weah is one of the few former soccer players to use their fame to move into a career in politics. Former players are some of the most prominent people in society and were they to move into politics, they would begin their new careers with higher name recognition than many politicians in office for years. But, for whatever reason, few players attempt to make this transition. A few of those who have (along with some former coaches, officials, and referees) are listed below. I’m limiting this list to those who have played at the professional level. Many politicians played soccer as kids (though few are as bad as Tony Blair).

Blair attempts to at least make contact

The most recognizable former soccer player of all, Pele, has tried his hand at a few things since retiring from the game. Unfortunately, he’s been bad at just about all of them. His stint in politics was no different. Appointed Extraordinary Minister for Sport in 1995, he went about trying to kick out corruption in Brazilian soccer (a much-needed task). His attempts to do so were unsuccessful and Pele left his job in 1999. In 2001, Pele himself was accused of profiting off of a charity match staged for UNICEF that never happened.

Turkey’s prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan is today visiting Washington, speaking with George Bush about the situation in the Kurdish region of northern Iraq and Turkey. But before he got into politics, Erdogan was apparently a professional soccer player, though with which team I don’t know.

Far less notable is Toshiro Tomochika, current member of the Japanese Diet and former J-League player. Tomochika was part of the surprising Democratic Party of Japan (DPJ) sweep of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) in the upper legislative house earlier this year. Soccer features prominently on the legislator’s website.

Toshiro Tomochika playing for J-League team Ehime FC (photo: Live Door)

Eastern Europe under the Iron Curtain produced two politicians who were former players. Jozsef Bozsik was a friend and teammate of the great Hungarian Ferenc Puskas, and also a great player in his own right. He won 101 caps for the Hungarian national team. After his playing days were over, Bozsik was also elected to the parliament, though perhaps elected is too strong a word to describe the political system in use at the time in Hungary.

Several decades later, Oleg Blokhin became a star for Dynamo Kiev and the USSR national team, for whom he earned 112 caps in total. He also won the European Footballer of the Year in 1975. Blokhin later coached several teams, including Ukraine, whom he guided to the 2006 World Cup. His coaching duties have not stopped Blokhin from serving in the Ukrainian parliament, to which he was elected in 2002.

Soccer club officials go into politics in far greater numbers than do the players they employ. Silvio Berlusconi parlayed his career as owner of AC Milan into a stint as Italy’s prime minister. Elected as head of Forza Italia (a party with connections to soccer supporters), Berlusconi ruled the country twice (1994-95 and 2001-06), though never as successfully as he has run AC Milan.

The always dapper Silvio Berlusconi (photo: Monte Cerignone e dintorni)

Berlusconi’s peer at Boca Juniors is Mauricio Macri. The Argentine won election as mayor of Buenos Aires earlier this year, a victory that just happened to coincide with Boca’s victory in South America’s Copa Libertadores. Some have suggested Macri may have his eye on the presidency, though he will now have to take down Argentina’s equivalent of the Clintons, current president Nestor and his wife Christina, who just won the election to take over his job.

Jack Warner is a mover and shaker in the FIFA hierarchy. The Trinidadian is a vice president of the world soccer body and head of CONCAF. He has allegedly used these position for his own profit when he resold 2006 World Cup tickets for $1 million, despite FIFA edicts against the practice. Warner announced his candidacy for the Trinidadian parliament recently and used his prominent position to win a seat in yesterday’s election.

Jack Warner (left) with Trinidadian Prime Minister Patrick Manning (photo: Office of the Prime Minister)

In addition to Oleg Blokhin, Argentina’s Carlos Bilardo is one of the few coaches to go into politics. The man (whose fantastic and accurate nickname is “Narigón” or “big nose”) who coached his country to victory at the 1986 World Cup announced he will become sports secretary of the province of Buenos Aires.

Argentina seems to produce more politicians from the ranks of soccerdom (perhaps it’s because the politics and soccer are so intertwined in the country). Javier Castrilli is, as far as I’m aware, the only referee to jump the ranks of arbiters to politics. The man once known as “El Sheriff” has hung up the whistle and become an official with the Argentine Ministry of Internal Affairs, focusing on security at stadiums.

Though the ranks of former soccer players, officials, coaches, and referee going into politics are fairly limited, there are two current players who one can imagine having a political career after retiring from playing. Not surprisingly, they both play for Barcelona, a club that define its identity in political terms. Defenders Lillian Thuram and Oleguer have both spoken out forcefully on political issues they feel strongly about. Will they devote themselves entirely to politics in the future? Only time will tell.

Have I missed any former soccer players, coaches, officials or referees who have gone into politics? Let me know by leaving a comment.

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This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 7th, 2007 at 10:00 am and is filed under Asia, Caribbean, Europe, History, Latin America, Politics. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.