Soccer players who moved into politics as 2024 US presidential election between Trump and Harris takes place

The 2024 United States presidential election is all the attention right now, but have you ever wondered which soccer players have moved into politics?

While US voters choose between Donald Trump and Kamala Harris – neither of whom, of course, were professional athletes, although in a 1990s broadcast, Trump did admit to playing soccer in high school – TEAMtalk has taken a look at soccer players from other countries who have become politicians.

Here at TT we’re always covering the latest moves involving players and coaches – but rarely is that into the world of politics.

It’s usually more common for a player to become a pundit or a coach after retiring, or even an agent overseeing transfers – but sometimes they have political ambitions that take them into a whole new world.

Some have served as ministers, some have been members of parliaments, and some have even led their countries as presidents or prime ministers.

Kicking off with a USMNT star’s famous father and featuring Ballon d’Or and World Cup winners, here are our top 10.

George Weah

The winner of the Ballon d’Or in 1995, Weah enjoyed a playing career with teams like Paris Saint-Germain and AC Milan.  He is without doubt the best ever player to emerge from Liberia and has gone on to lead his country.

The father of USMNT international Tim Weah, he stood for the Liberian presidency in 2005, but wasn’t successful. However, when he ran again in 2017, he won 60% of the vote and was elected as president.

His inauguration was attended by Didier Drogba, the Ivorian former Chelsea striker, and Samuel Eto’o, the Cameroonian former Barcelona striker.

In late 2023, Weah lost the presidency after being beaten by just one percentage point in the next presidential election, the closest in the country’s history.

Gianni Rivera

One of AC Milan’s best ever players, Gianni Rivera won 12 trophies with the Italian club, as well as Euro 1968 with his country.

Rivera retired in 1979, and eight years later he became a member of Italian parliament as part of the Christian Democracy party, and was re-elected three times.

He even became a Member of European Parliament later in his political career, between 2005 and 2009, before returning to soccer with the FIGC (Italian football association).

Kakha Kaladze

Another player famed for his spell with AC Milan, Kaladze is the fifth most-capped Georgian player of all time, but was also an avid investor towards the end of his time as a player.

After ending his playing career in 2012, the ex-defender was elected to Georgian parliament that October. In fact, he became the country’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Energy.

Kaladze resigned from that role in 2017 to run to become the mayor of Tbilisi and he was elected with 51% of the vote. He retained the title with 55% of the vote upon re-election four years later.

Hakan Sukur

Scorer of the fastest ever goal in a World Cup game back in 2002 for Turkey, Sukur’s main club in his playing career was Galatasaray.

In 2011, three years after his retirement from playing, he was elected as an MP to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey, but he resigned from his position in 2013.

In August 2016, the same year in which he was charged with insulting President Erdogan on Twitter, an arrest warrant was issued for Sukur due to his alleged connections with Fethullah Gulen (who was accused of trying to overthrow Erdogan, though he denied instigating the 2016 coup attempt).

Sukur has long since left Turkey to move to the USA, going on to open a sports academy, among other ventures.

Oleg Blokhin

Blokhin won the Ballon d’Or in 1975 while playing for Dynamo Kyiv. After retiring, he worked as a coach, but also stepped into politics in 1998 when he was elected to the Ukrainian parliament.

He was re-elected for a second term in 2002.

Romario

One of the best goalscorers of his generation, Romario played for the likes of PSV and Barcelona, as well as scoring 55 international goals for Brazil.

In 2010, he was elected to Brazil’s Chamber of Deputies. Four years later, he was elected to the Brazilian Senate with the most votes ever for a candidate for the state of Rio de Janeiro. He remains in that role to this date.

While he has represented different parties over the years, Romario’s commitment to politics remains intact – even after he came out of retirement earlier this year to play for former club America-RJ again.

Zico

Another of the Brazilian all-time greats, Zico – a World Cup winner in 1978 – became his country’s first ever Sports Minister in 1990. However, he left the role after just 13 months due to external pressures.

The same role was later taken by the biggest Brazilian legend of them all, Pele, who served from 1995 to 1998.

Roman Kosecki

In the US, Roman Kosecki is best known as a forward who ended his career with Chicago Fire in the late 90s – but before that, the Poland international played for the likes of Atletico Madrid and Galatasaray back in Europe.

After his retirement, he became an MP in Poland, but later switched his attention back to soccer by running for a different kind of presidency – that of the Polish football association. He lost to another ex-player, Zbigniew Boniek, who nevertheless appointed him as a vice-president of youth development.

Kaj Leo Johannesen

You may not have heard too much about Kaj Leo Johannesen as a player – he spent his entire career in the Faroe Islands and was capped by his lowly-ranked country just four times – but he is just one of two individuals to have both played for his country and become its official leader (the other being Weah).

A goalkeeper in his playing days – in fact, he was also an active handball player – during which he also spent some time on the Torshavn City Council, Johannesen went on to become the prime minister of the Faroe Islands between 2008 and 2015.

In the October 2011 elections he received more personal votes than any other Faroese candidate ever (although that record was later toppled when he was beaten in the 2015 election).

Honorable mentions

As mentioned earlier, Pele succeeded Zico as Brazil’s sports minister, having also already been a UN ambassador and there was even a law named after him in Brazil.

Former Chelsea and AC Milan striker Andriy Shevchenko joined the Ukraine – Forward! party in 2012 but they did not win any constituencies.

Ex-Belgium international and head coach Marc Wilmots, whose former clubs included Standard Liege and Schalke, sat on the Belgian Senate between 2003 and 2007.

Albert Gudmundsson, who played for Rangers, Arsenal and AC Milan in the 1940s, was elected to the Icelandic parliament in 1974 and came third in the running for president in 1980.

Carlos Mac Allister, father of current Liverpool midfielder Alexis, played for the likes of Boca Juniors before being elected to Argentina’s National Chamber of Deputies in 2013 and becoming Secretary of Sports between 2015 and 2018.

Roberto Dinamite scored 20 times for Brazil and had a brief spell at Barcelona before being elected to the State Assembly of Rio de Janeiro after his retirement and became State Deputy in 1994.

Finally, Ahmed Ben Bella is famed as the first president of Algeria, but he could have had a career in soccer, since he previously played – just once – for Marseille in 1940 before rejecting an offer of a professional contract.

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