With an influence and legacy far beyond basketball, the ill-fated former American athlete has been paid tribute by many organizations and figures in other sports, especially football. Big clubs and players.

Few people know that even though he is an American, Kobe himself is also very passionate about football. It can even be said that if he hadn’t pursued a basketball career, maybe he would have been an equally talented and famous soccer star.

On the occasion of going to Brazil to support the 2014 World Cup, Kobe shared: “Actually, I am also a football fan, partly because I grew up in Italy when I moved there with my family when I was 6 years old. years old (the reason his four daughters have distinctly Italian names – Natalia, Gianna, Bianka and Capri). Even until I was 14 years old, I still played soccer every day more than basketball. This is my favorite sport.”

During his time, Kobe was a loyal fan of AC Milan and idolized former striker Marco van Basten. He once said: “If you cut my left hand, the blood will be red and black (symbolizing AC Milan). If you cut my right hand, the blood would be purple-yellow (representing the Los Angeles Lakers).”

With his superior body shape and athletic qualities, he has seriously pursued his career in shorts for a short time. Kobe recounted: “I started playing as a goalkeeper because I had the advantage of height and long arms, but I wasn’t very good at catching goals. I kept practicing and made progress, then was promoted to midfielder.”

In 1991, Kobe Bryant’s family returned to America and since then, he has truly invested exclusively in basketball. Part of the objective reason was also because American high schools at that time did not favor football much, so Kobe had few opportunities to play this sport like when he lived in Italy.

Regardless, this was clearly the right decision and the rest became history. And even though he has no affinity for professional football, Kobe still maintains a burning passion for the king of sports, typically appearing on the stands many times or interacting with European clubs to travel to the US. .

Kobe showed his ability to juggle the ball as skillfully as he did dunking. In addition to AC Milan, Kobe is also a big fan of Barcelona, mainly through meetings and collaborations with superstar Lionel Messi in many advertising films. He still keeps the jerseys signed by Barca players, even pasting Messi’s photo on the door of his locker at the Los Angeles Lakers.

Although football did not have an outstanding star, basketball and sports in general had another legend. In the past, there was a fun comparison article like this. When we compare Kobe’s individual and collective achievements to football, what do we have?

– Sticking your whole career with a club like Ryan Giggs

– Accompanying the team through many ups and downs like Francesco Totti

– An outstanding and great star in the world like Lionel Messi

– Won all trophies at club and national team levels like Xavi Hernandez

– Dancing on the football field like Ronaldinho Gaucho

– Having many unfortunate injuries like Radamel Falcao

– Conflict with other legends (Shaquille O’Neal) like Pele and Maradona

– The aura of a showbiz star like David Beckham

– High salary and huge commercial contracts like Neymar

– Raps as well as Andy Cole (Kobe has appeared in several music videos)

– There is a famous documentary like Cristiano Ronaldo (Kobe even won an Oscar for the animated film “Dear, Basketball” which he wrote the script himself)

– Have a generous heart and work hard at charity like Didier Drogba