When Usain Bolt announced that he would retire as sprinter, he surprised the world by also hinting a desire to go into professional football and while people made fun of him he was dead serious, and was actually extremely close to signing a professional contract. It didn't work out for the fastest man in the world though. But why he wasn't his supernatural speed enough to help him play at a decent level?

Well, that's what we'll look into today. Before we jump to the very obvious conclusion that Bolt simply wasn't good enough let's take a look at his career as a footballer. Just before retiring from running in 2017, he actually mentioned how he'd love to one day play for Manchester United.



Keep in mind that at the time Bolt was 30 years old, but still it sparked debates by Manchester United fans about whether he was worth a shot. At the end though, United had already tried out a rapid big lad with a non-existing touch in Bebe and it didn't really work out. So contract offer never came from the Red Devils instead, Bolt signed with South Africa's Mamelodi Sundowns and also trained with Borussia Dortmund in a couple of marketing stunts but never really played.


He did however play for Norwegian side Stromsgodset in 2018 in a friendly match against the Norwegian under 9 national team, with Bolt getting 20 minutes and missing a header and that was kind of it. For some reason, he just couldn't score. Now Bolt also took part in the UK charity celebrity match called soccer aid, where he scored a decent offside goal, hit the bar and slotted home a penalty. And people once again saw a glimmer of hope for a proper fairy tale story.


Apparently, Bolt also fully believed in his own ability and went all the way to Australia to play with the Central Coast marinas, where he scored a decent goal and it happened during a training match. He was actually was offered a contract but sadly, they couldn't agree on the financial side of things. Bolt also took part in soccer aid in 2019 and again scored a very decent goal. But after that, He called time on his career in sports.

Now the big question, why didn't Usain Bolt succeed? I mean in today's game we see a lot of fast players thriving and Bolt wouldn't be the first fast player to do a decent job, despite not being the most talented player ever. When we look at him, he's a big, strong and explosive lad who can hold off defenders and obviously outpace everyone off the ball, thanks to his long quick steps. It should be noted that he was enthusiastic and simply worked his socks off.


However, all his matches have shown that he simply lacks basic technique and finishing skills, and he needs more game intelligence and also more match fitness. That's understandable... I mean how is a guy who's used to exploring for less than 10 seconds, supposed to last for 90 minutes?

Now don't get me wrong here, Usain Bolt is not an utterly terrible football player... In fact, he's pretty good. There's just a difference between being decent and being able to play pro football, simply because game intelligence and fitness is such a big factor at the highest level. So football for Bolt might have been a tad bit naive, but hey it was a cool story.


In other words, the fastest man on the planet didn't succeed in becoming a pro but can put on a good show at a charity celebrity match. You have to respect the man for using his fame to follow his dream, but are there any other footballers who could play all the sports?