Renowned for his ability to dazzle and confound defenses during his remarkable football career, one of the sport’s legendary wingers is now setting his sights on mastery in an entirely different arena.

This standout athlete’s impressive career highlights feature 12 league titles spanning four major leagues, a coveted Champions League victory, and 96 appearances for his national team over a 14-year period.

Yet, in an intriguing twist, the ex-football star has embraced a new challenge by turning professional in the sport of padel.

At 41, he officially hung up his football boots in July 2021 after a brief return from retirement to play for Dutch club Groningen.

While many of his peers transition into coaching or media roles, Robben is charting a unique path by merging his coaching endeavors with a promising career in professional padel.

Ex-footballer Arjen Robben is now a professional padel player and has a world ranking, aged 41

Robben won 12 league titles during an illustrious football career – including the 2004-05 Premier League while at Chelsea

In late August, he won his first ranking points in the International Padel Federation when he entered the FIP Bronze Westerbork tournament, part of the CUPRA FIP Tour, in his homeland of the Netherlands.

He and his partner Werner Lootsma overcame six match points in a qualifier to defeat Ralph Boekema and Mark Weldmate, another former footballer, 4-6, 6-3, 7-6 to reach the main draw.

That was Robben’s first-ever victory on the tour but that was as good as it got for him during the tournament as he and Lootsma were outclassed in their last-32 clash.

Coming up against world No 155 Sten Richters and world No 144 Thijs Roper they suffered a heavy 6-1, 6-0 defeat.

Despite the loss, a huge crowd were present with hundreds in attendance to watch Robben play.

‘He’s the best former professional footballer we know who plays padel,’ commented Richters and Roper post-match as they paid tribute to Robben.

Robben was gracious in defeat too, admitting he didn’t expect too much of himself against better players.

‘I don’t think I can take myself too seriously. I started with low expectations’ he said.

‘But I tried to fight on the court, and score as many points as possible.’

In August, Robben won his first-ever professional match with playing partner Werner Lootsma

The pair however lost their next match to Sten Richters and Thijs Roper in the Netherlands

Robben’s passion for padel began when he was playing for Bayern Munich where he said: ‘I used to play three times a week when I was in Germany.’

He has previously spoken about looking to emulate former footballers turning to padel – pointing to the impact of Zlatan Ibrahimovic has had in Sweden.

‘Zlatan Ibrahimovic made padel an important sport in Sweden, and I think I can do the same in the Netherlands.’

In 2023, Robben teamed up with former Netherlands strike partner Robin van Persie as the duo swapped the football pitch for a padel court playing in the Pro-Am of the World Padel Tour Amsterdam Open.

And just like their dazzling footballing careers, it ended in success as the duo won the ‘Legends Game’.

In 2023, Robben teamed up with former Netherlands team-mate Robin van Persie as they won the ‘Legends Game’ in the Pro-Am of the World Padel Tour Amsterdam Open

Robben’s love for padel started at Bayern Munich – where he played ‘three times a week’

Robben retired from football at the end of the 2020-21 season at Dutch outfit Groningen

‘What an incredible experience to play at the Amsterdam Open once again! An intense match in excellent company,’ Van Persie remarked afterwards.

Robben is currently ranked 1,980 in the world with three ranking points. He is a long way off from the top with Argentine Agustine Tapia and Spaniard Arturo Coello joint world-no 1 with 20,200 points apiece.

However, Robben is remarkably closer to the world No 5 in the rankings than that player is closer to Tapia and Coello. Argentine Franco Stupaczuk is fifth in the standings with 8,835 points: 11,365 behind Tapia and Coello and 8,832 ahead of Robben.

Only time will tell if the Dutchman will climb up the rankings, but you’d be foolish to bet against him.