European Championship winner x1 UEFA Champions League winner x1 Intercontinental Cup winner x1 Bundesliga champion x6 European jiu-jitsu champion x1 (Blue Belt – Senior 1 Light division)
It’s fairly common for ex-professional athletes to attempt a new sport once they hang up their boots. Michael Jordan spent time in minor league baseball, Diego Forlán dabbles in Masters tennis, and many still remember Usain Bolt’s ill-fated effort to break into top-flight football. For Bixente Lizarazu, a shift to jiu-jitsu followed his glittering football career—though one wonders if starting earlier might have made him an even better defender.
Speaking to FourFourTwo in 2017, Lizarazu said:
“The experience I have now gained in martial arts would have really helped me as a defender in football, I’m sure, as you learn a lot about how to use the energy of the opponent to your advantage and how to position yourself to block them.”
Nicknamed ‘The Medal Collector’ in Bayern Munich’s hall of fame, Lizarazu was among the standout full-backs of his era, stacking up an enviable list of honours. He even famously slapped Lothar Matthäus in training—an early glimpse of his self-defence instincts.
In the early 1990s, Lizarazu emerged as a dynamic, attack-minded left-back at Bordeaux, where he captained a side that included a young Zinedine Zidane. After guiding the club to the 1996 UEFA Cup final, defeating a star-studded AC Milan along the way, he decided it was time for a fresh challenge.
A frustrating, injury-hit spell at Athletic Bilbao ended when he signed for Bayern Munich. Within a year, he became a world champion. Lizarazu started in six of France’s seven games at the 1998 World Cup, which they won for the first time in their history. In the final, the hosts memorably beat Brazil 3–0 in Paris, with two goals from Zidane. Lizarazu even contributed to the scoresheet with a goal in the group-stage victory over Saudi Arabia.
He starred again two years later when France lifted the Euro 2000 trophy by beating Italy in the final. In 2001, aged 32, he clinched a UEFA Champions League winner’s medal with Bayern, who edged Valencia in a penalty shootout. Lizarazu calmly scored in that shootout, too. That same year, he added the Intercontinental Cup to his growing collection, making him the first footballer to hold both world and European titles for club and country at the same time.
Despite his advancing years, there was still interest in his services on the football pitch. As Lizarazu recalled in a 2017 FourFourTwo interview, Sir Alex Ferguson tried to bring him to Manchester United around 2001 or 2002, but Bayern Munich refused to sanction the move.
Though he left for Marseille in 2004, Lizarazu soon rejoined Bayern half a year later. He eventually retired at 36 in 2006, handing over the left-back reins to a young Philipp Lahm. Next came the question: What to do next?
An all-round sports enthusiast, Lizarazu surfs, skis, cycles, goes paddle boarding, and even swims with sharks. Alongside these pursuits, he developed a passion for Brazilian jiu-jitsu, a martial art often misunderstood as being purely about fighting. As he told FourFourTwo:
“Jiu-jitsu is not just about punching people. It’s very technical and an interesting martial art. I have been doing it for 10 years now and I love it—it’s very good for fitness.”
Still, transitioning from legendary French footballer to competitive grappler made him a prime target in tournaments:
“They wanted to kill me! I took part in three tournaments, and before one of them started, one of the guys was saying, ‘We will kill you.’ But I still won! I was a blue belt—it was the European Championship in my age group, and the whole thing was such a crazy experience.”
Trading sliding tackles for takedowns might seem like a leap, but for athletes of Lizarazu’s calibre, the hunger for competition remains. His story shows that even after a peak career in one sport, some champions still crave fresh tests of skill.
He’s not the only footballer who has dived into jiu-jitsu. João Gomes of Wolverhampton Wanderers credits the discipline with improving his game. He explained to The Sun how it boosted both his mobility and mindset:
“Learning Brazilian jiu-jitsu has improved my football. It’s helped a lot with my mobility—and flexibility. Before I tried jiu-jitsu, I don’t think I had a lot of that. I used to have a lot of pain. It has given me a lot of resistance to that pain. It’s helped with my conditioning. … It’s more about using your brain than your physical strength. So there are similarities with top-level football because a lot of it is played in the brain.”
Hollywood also has its share of jiu-jitsu devotees. Like Lizarazu, actor Tom Hardy was a blue belt when he entered a 2022 competition and won at the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Open Championship in Milton Keynes. Afterwards, fellow competitor Danny Appleby told the media:
“He’s a really strong guy… You wouldn’t think it with him being a celebrity. I’ve done about six tournaments and been on the podium every time, but he’s probably the toughest competitor I’ve faced.”
Anthony Bourdain, the late chef and travel-documentary figure, was another who caught the jiu-jitsu bug. He famously appeared unannounced at a 2016 tournament, winning gold in his division at the New York Open. Some of his anonymous comments on a martial arts forum have since been published in an article, “The Lost Diary of Anthony Bourdain,” on Rolling Stone’s website.
With such varied endorsements, Brazilian jiu-jitsu has surged in popularity. Stars like Lizarazu and Bourdain have shone an extra spotlight on a sport that rewards not just force but also focus, resilience, and clever tactics.
