Ex-Arsenal and Chelsea icon quit football for dramatic career in totally different sport
Petr Cech became a bona fide Chelsea legend before moving to their London rivals(Image: Etsuo Hara/Getty Images)
Petr Cech has remarkably forged a career in ice hockey since retiring from football. The legendary former Arsenal and Chelsea goalkeeper made the stunning decision to change sports after calling time on his career back in 2019.
The 44-year-old’s two former sides go head to head in Sunday afternoon’s London derby, which is their third Premier League game of the season. The Gunners, who won the league last term, host the Blues, led by their new manager Xabi Alonso.
Cech will be watching intently given his affiliation with both clubs, despite the fact that most of his attention is on ice hockey these days. In fact, the Czech former shot-stopper currently plays for Haringey Huskies, who play their home fixtures at Alexandra Palace in north London.
He is best known for signing for Chelsea in 2004 and going on to become one of the greatest goalkeepers in English football history, clinching four Premier League titles, the Champions League and four Premier League Golden Glove awards.
He left Chelsea in 2015 to join Arsenal, winning the 2016/17 FA Cup before hanging up his boots in 2019. Early in his post-playing career, Cech returned to the Blues as a technical and performance advisor in June 2019. But he stunned football fans by announcing his decision to play ice hockey later that year, using his excellent reflexes to become a goaltender.
He said after signing for fourth-tier team Guildford Phoenix: "After 20 years of professional football, this is going to be a wonderful experience for me to play the game I loved to watch and play as a kid."
Posting on Twitter after the announcement, he clarified: "Some people seem to think I've changed my job. No I didn't," confirming that he was juggling his new adventure alongside his responsibilities at Chelsea.
Ice hockey is Cech's first love(Image: William Cherry/Presseye)
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He added: "Luckily my job at Chelsea doesn't stop me in my spare time from playing the game I loved as a kid and which I've been playing for years. While being a professional footballer I couldn't play the game for obvious reasons. Now I can."
Cech officially left Stamford Bridge again In June 2022 after Todd Boehly’s takeover. On his debut for the Phoenix, the reserve team of National Ice Hockey League side Guildford Flames , he was named man of the match as he made two penalty saves in a shootout victory against Swindon Wildcats.
His custom helmet for the game featured a design with the Union Jack, Tower Bridge, Big Ben and the London Eye. It also had the Chelsea badge on one side of the helmet and the Arsenal badge on the other.
Since then, he has played for Chelmsford Chieftains, Oxford City Stars and Belfast Giants, before signing a contract with Haringey Huskies in the middle of the 2025/26 campaign after a season out.
Cech ended his football career at Arsenal(Image: Getty)
Cech’s passion for ice hockey stems from his youth, where he actually preferred the sport to football but had to give it up because of the expensive equipment costs. And he even claimed in 2023 that he found playing ice hockey more fun than playing in the Champions League, which he won in 2012.
Speaking to the Daily Mail, he explained: "It's a completely different level of pressure. This is more fun than when you play a Champions League game for everything.
"I still have that feeling in myself because I want to perform. I want to win. I hate losing. It's the same feeling I had when I played football.
"You still get that feeling when you're walking through the corridor, to the ice, surrounded by all these people. Maybe if there were 30 fans, it would be different. But the building is full. That's what I like."
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