Cristiano Ronaldo Photo: AFP

There are many famous examples of career changes. Arnold Schwarzenegger went from champion bodybuilder to superstar actor to governor of California, Stephen King was a janitor before he became a bestselling author. Harrison Ford was a carpenter, while Walt Disney was a newspaper editor. Even Pope Francis was a nightclub bouncer back in Buenos Aires before becoming pontiff.

Football is little different. European Cup winning manager Arrigo Sacchi was a shoe salesman before turning to coaching, more recently Maurizio Sarri worked in a bank before ending up a UEFA Europa League winner with Chelsea.

It is the same for players. Rickie Lambert used to screw the lids on beetroot jars in a factory before football called and he ended up an England international. Ian Wright and Stuart Pearce both had to work before setting on the same path - Pearce even used to advertise his electrician services in the matchday program.

Former Everton goalkeeper Neville Southall was a bin man before he turned refuse collection into refusing to collect the ball from his goal by shutting out the opposition, while Brazilian great Socrates was known as "The Doctor" because he had trained as one before becoming a footballer.

Even within the game, for the players who have not had to work prior to being trained by elite clubs and being groomed for stardom, there have been equally successful career changes after finding a new role within the team.

The truth is that most players who are picked up by clubs change positions during their time in the academy. The Ajax model famously makes footballers play in the role of their direct opposition - Dennis Bergkamp had to play central defense in his youth in order to learn more about being a striker, for example.

However, there is a difference between Ashley Cole signing for Arsenal as a youth striker or Fernando Torres being a childhood goalkeeper than those who changed once their pro careers were underway. Here are some of the most successful players to have switched positions:

Gareth Bale

The Welsh wizard was a fullback at Southampton and that is the role he was signed for by Tottenham Hotspur but he was sent further forward by Harry Redknapp and thrived in an advanced role at Spurs. That took him to Real Madrid for a world record transfer fee and he went further forward to become part of a front three and score winning goals in the UEFA Champions League. He tends to play as a central striker for his national team and is their all-time top scorer with 33 goals in 83 caps.

Andrea Pirlo

The uber cool Pirlo began his career as a fantasista or trequartista - the classic No.10 role - while at hometown club Brescia but his admission to the pantheon of football's greats was in a deep-lying playmaker role. He was highly rated as a No.10 joining Inter Milan, but it was a return to Brescia that saw him find his footing. With Roberto Baggio as the offensive playmaker, coach Carlo Mazzone moved Pirlo back and the rest is history. Pirlo won the World Cup and Champions League twice as well as four Serie A titles. Not done, he remodeled himself as a winemaker after retiring.

Lothar Matthaus

Matthaus won the Ballon d'Or in 1990 as a box-to-box midfielder, the same year that he won the World Cup with West Germany and starring at Inter Milan when Italy's Serie A was the premier league of European football. He was named German footballer of the year too, just as he was in 1999 when he had transitioned to sweeper, and taken Bayern Munich to within two heartbreaking injury-time Manchester United goals of winning the Champions League in Barcelona.

Franz Beckenbauer

The proto-Matthaus if you like. "Der Kaiser" was one of the first to redevelop his role. He started as a central midfielder, moved to central defense and then created the modern sweeper role that countrymen Matthaus and Matthias Sammer went on to thrive in. Beckenbauer won the lot as a player and then joined the illustrious club of people who won the World Cup as both player and manager. He won the Ballon d'Or twice as a player in the 1970s.

Sergio Ramos

The archetypal "Marmite" player, people either love or hate the Spain skipper but what a player he has been. Ramos started as a right back at Sevilla and that was why he was signed by Real Madrid where he then moved to central defense. The 33-year-old has won a World Cup in 2010.

Javier Mascherano

Argentina's record appearance maker started his career as a defensive midfielder with River Plate before moving to Brazil's Corinthians then West Ham and Liverpool in the Premier League. Mascherano became a central defender under Pep Guardiola at Barcelona where he won trophy after trophy. After a decade at the Camp Nou, Mascherano moved to Hebei China Fortune in the Chinese Super League until leaving for Estudiantes de la Plata in Argentina at the age of 35.

Ryan Giggs



Another Welsh wing wizard, Giggs is now Bale's manager for the national team but the teen tyro predated his countryman in changing position by a decade. Giggs has played left wing in an all-conquering Manchester United side for nearly two decades before moving to central midfield at 35. He won the PFA Player of the Year award after doing so to cap a remarkable career that also saw him become caretaker and then assistant boss at Old Trafford.

Cristiano Ronaldo

Giggs' former teammate for six years at United, the Portuguese arrived at Old Trafford as a skinny teen winger and left as the Ballon d'Or winner. He did that in a more central role and he has honed that since moving to Real Madrid and then Juventus, where he won another four Ballons and everything else at club level.
Newspaper headline: Role Reversal