Liverpool fans were given an unusual surprise this week when a viral video showed their former player, Florent Sinama Pongolle, pulling off an incredible shot in professional footgolf. And it turns out that he isn’t the only Reds cult hero who has channelled their ball-kicking ability into an entirely different sport.
Sinama Pongolle scored nine goals in 65 games for Liverpool, having been picked up from France as a talented teenager. The forward, now 40, won the Champions League in 2005, when Rafa Benitez masterminded a famous comeback to beat AC Milan after going in 3-0 down at half-time.
Sinama Pongolle would go on to enjoy spells with the likes of Atletico Madrid and Saint-Etienne before a brief spell in Thailand towards the end of his career. The once-capped French international hung up his boots in 2019 and put them on again soon afterwards as he dove into the world of professional footgolf.
A video was posted to Sinama Pongolle’s Instagram story earlier this week which showed him holing an incredible shot from off the green at Golf De Saint Donat in the French Riviera.
And Sinama Pongolle isn’t the only ex-Liverpool star to have caught the bug, as he revealed that Anthony Le Tallec – another former teenage recruit – is also a fan.
“There are many [footballers] who come to try it,” Sinama Pongolle told L’Union. “After me, there is Ludovic Obraniak, who has practiced a lot, and Camel Meriem, who is the one who has been practicing the most since he started.
“We also find Anthony Le Tallec who I got started. There were other ambassadors like Sylvain Wiltord, Jean-Pierre Papin or Youri Djorkaeff, who have already been part of the thing.”
Sinama Pongolle and Le Tallec, who are cousins and have always been practically joined at the hip, have now reunited at HAC Footgolf – a club based in the French city of Le Havre, where they both cut their teeth as budding professional footballers in its esteemed academy.
Le Tallec also picked up a Champions League winner’s medal from Liverpool’s famous night in Istanbul, despite the fact he spent part of that season out on loan. The French forward left Anfield in 2008 after six years at the club and saw out his playing days with spells in Romania and Greece, as well as his homeland.