Despite sharing a name, there’s little that connects football—or “soccer”—and American football beyond the need for an adept kicker.
The ability to cleanly strike the ball—whether spherical or elliptical—is essential to success, and that has resulted in a handful of soccer stars transferring their skills stateside over the years.
While an infrequently-trodden path, some players have delved into the NFL late in their sporting careers, defying the odds to achieve great things on the gridiron.
With that in mind, here are some examples of soccer players who migrated to American football.
Toni Fritsch
Toni Fritsch is one of few sportsmen to have successfully straddled two wildly-different disciplines.
The former Rapid Wien striker enjoyed a trophy-laden stint in his native Austria between 1963 and 1971, winning five major trophies at the club level alongside making nine appearances for the national team. He scored just twice on the international stage, but it proved a memorable brace to conquer England—for which he earned the nickname ‘Wembley Toni’—just a year before the Three Lions won the World Cup.
But after being identified as the perfect kicker by the Dallas Cowboys during one of their European scouting missions in 1971, Fritsch ventured to the United States in search of even greater fame. The NFL’s first Austrian player was part of the Cowboys’ Super Bowl-winning team in his rookie year, before further spells at the San Diego Chargers, Houston Oilers and New Orleans Saints.
Horst Mühlmann
After failing to make headway with boyhood club Borussia Dortmund as a burgeoning soccer star, Horst Mühlmann swapped Ruhr derby allegiances by teaming up with Schalke in 1961. The goalkeeper would spend five seasons in Gelsenkirchen, before eventually joining American outfit Kansas City Spurs of the North American Soccer League (NASL) toward the end of the decade.
Once in Kansas City, the 29-year-old Mühlmann soon ignited his football career with the Kansas City Chiefs, before becoming the kicker for the Cincinnati Bengals later that year in 1969. Renowned for his powerful and clean kicks, he spent five years in Ohio before being traded to the Philadelphia Eagles in 1975.
Matt Bahr
Matt Bahr’s professional soccer career was rather unspectacular. He spent brief spells with the NASL’s Colorado Caribous and Tulsa Roughnecks as he sought to follow in the footsteps of his father Walter Bahr—former captain of the USMNT—but it wasn’t long before he switched sports.
Bahr was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers in 1979—one of six NFL franchises he played for over a 16-year NFL career—and immediately won the Super Bowl as a rookie kicker. But his greatest moment would arrive with the New York Giants in 1991 when he scored the winning field goal in a 20–19 win over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV.
Chris Bahr
Chris Bahr enjoyed a similar sporting career to his brother, Matt. After an unremarkable spell with the NASL’s Philadelphia Atoms, he swapped soccer for American football when he was drafted by the Cincinnati Bengals as a kicker in 1976.
Just like his brother, Bahr won the Super Bowl twice—first triumphing with the Oakland Raiders in 1980 (Super Bowl XV) and then again in the 1983 season (Super Bowl XVIII) after the franchise had moved to Los Angeles. He ended his NFL career with the San Diego Chargers.
Toni Linhart
Toni Linhart, a Pro Bowler in 1976 and 1977 for the Baltimore #Colts, was a member of the Austrian national soccer team before coming to America in 1972 and tagging on with the Saints as a placekicker. Linhart led the NFL in scoring in 1976. pic.twitter.com/NdYkJLlm6X
— Seb 🇨🇦 (@Seb_MTL71) June 3, 2018
Somewhat surprisingly, Fristch wasn’t the only Austrian to trade soccer in his homeland for a shot at the NFL. Toni Linhart trod that particular path at the same time as his compatriot, although he failed to win the Super Bowl and played 43 games fewer.
Linhart journeyed to the U.S. after professional soccer spells with Wiener Sport-Club and First Vienna. The defender-turned-kicker represented the New Orleans Saints, Baltimore Colts and New York Jets across a seven-year career, even finishing as the NFL’s leading scorer in 1976.
Brandon Aubrey
Brandon Aubrey is the most recent player to make the move from soccer to American football. Despite signing for Major League Soccer outfit Toronto FC in 2017, the center back never made a senior appearance, only playing for their reserve team as well as the Philadelphia Union’s reserve team.
However, after becoming a free agent in 2018, he focused his attention on American football, teaming up with UFL team Birmingham Stallions to improve his skills as a kicker. He was picked up by the Dallas Cowboys in 2023—where he instantly became the NFL’s leading points scorer in his first year (157).
Honorable Mentions
There is a fairly-lengthy list of soccer stars who played in NFL Europe—a developmental league for the NFL which existed between 1991–2007.
One of the competition’s most high-profile names was Clive Allen, the former Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester City and Chelsea striker who made five national team appearances for England. He represented the London Monarchs in NFL Europe, but only for one year in 1997.
Former Barcelona goalkeeper Jesús Angoy was a kicker for the Barcelona Dragons, while West Germany international Manfred Burgsmüller spent six years with Rhein Fire and twice won the World Bowl.
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