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Soccer legend plays his first professional hockey match

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Soccer legend plays his first professional hockey match

When a professional athlete retires from his sport, it’s often expected that he’ll take some time out and rest, or decide to work in his own field. This time, Petr Cech’s decision was to change sport completely!

The Czech goalkeeper, recognized as one of the best in soccer history, decided to become a hockey goalkeeper. It was his childhood dream and he finally realized it on Saturday night, when he kept goal for the Belfast Giants in the Elite Ice Hockey League for the final minutes of the third period.

Then ahead by four goals, the Giants allowed Cech to realize his dream by replacing Tyler Beskorowany for the final four minutes of the game.

He remained perfect in front of the only shot directed at him, and the Giants won the match 5-1 against the Glasgow Clan. Both teams play in the Elite Ice Hockey League, a professional hockey league based in the UK.

The craziest part? He’s 41 years old.

That’s right, Petr Cech had an excellent, long soccer career with Arsenal and Chelsea in the English Premier League . In fact, he holds the record for the most shutouts in the history of the Premier League (202), which is considered one of the best leagues in the world.

Cech officially retired from professional soccer at the age of 36 in 2019. The following autumn, he began his journey towards his childhood dream of playing professional hockey, signing for the Guildford Phoenix, an amateur team in England’s second division.

He played there for two seasons in 2019-20 and 2021-22. He then moved up to the amateur first division, playing with Chelmsford Chieftains in 2022-23 and Oxford City Stars this season.

The Stars decided to loan him to the Belfast Giants professional team a few days ago, and it was finally on Saturday that his big dream came true.

A superb story that proves once again that age is just a number, and that it’s never too late to realize your dreams.

On top of that, he came very close to retiring from all sport in 2006, when he suffered a dangerous head injury. He finally returned to the game with a helmet. That helmet not only gave him a memorable career and a brand name, it also kept him healthy and enabled him to realize his dream of playing hockey.

Here’s a look at some of his best soccer moments.


In a row

– Solid joke!

– Kent Hughes doesn’t want to let one of his goaltenders go for free.

– Incroyable.

– New MLB signing.

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