After retirement, he says he stepped back from the sport for a couple of years, barely watching football at all after dedicating his life to it for decades. He occasionally has a kickabout with friends, but says tournaments at local golf clubs keep the competitive spirit burning. But he still has his views, whether on Jose Mourinho\u2019s return to Madrid, or football\u2019s evolution from a \u201cbasketball game\u201d to a \u201cchess game\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had my time,\u201d he says. \u201cAnd to get to that point, you go through a lot to get there.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt had been from the age of nine, in terms of a professional approach, and that can really take its toll, especially with the pressures. It was nice to take a step back and reset. Now I am coming back into watching it a bit more, my son (Axel) is a Real Madrid and Tottenham fan. It\u2019s nice to enjoy it with him and not have a little bit of resentment towards it, which you can have towards the end of your career when you\u2019re feeling a bit run down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gareth Bale on Ronaldo at age 41<\/p>\n
Now, Bale is entering a new phase of life. He is accompanied by John Shulman, founder of Juggernaut Capital Partners, a Washington, D.C.-based private equity firm stated to have more than $1billion (\u00a3750m) in capital commitments. Juggernaut is now creating a dedicated sports investment vehicle, in partnership with Bale, which it says will seek to invest over $500million across \u201chigh-growth\u201d opportunities in football teams, youth development, golf and experiential sports assets. Juggernaut already has investments in golf and women\u2019s volleyball, as well as women\u2019s lacrosse. Both mixed golf and lacrosse will be at the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.<\/p>\n
The pair say an announcement about a first investment will come in the next months, expected to be in the U.S. and in a women\u2019s team.<\/p>\n
Bale has a first-hand view of the opportunities currently available to girls. He has two daughters, aged 10 and 13, who participate in netball, athletics, cricket, hockey, football and horse riding.<\/p>\n
He says: \u201cIf you look at how I went through in an academy, that\u2019s probably not the same in (all) women\u2019s sport, so it is hopefully where we can fill in the blanks and try and build it out. We want to try and make it more accessible from a younger age. We want to give opportunities to girls just as much as boys. It should be an equal playing field and equal opportunity.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\n Gareth Bale became the most expensive footballer in the world when he signed for Real Madrid for \u20ac100m (then \u00a385.3m) in 2013 (Angel Martinez\/Real Madrid via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
Shulman says that men\u2019s sports teams are at a \u201cvaluation range that is uninteresting to us\u201d, saying that the lower valuations of women\u2019s teams are \u201cunjustified over the long haul\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is fundamental logic,\u201d he argues. \u201cWe\u2019re going to move into the golden era of investing into women\u2019s sports. It\u2019s about time.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the fund will seek controlling stakes, Bale concedes he would be \u201cvery naive\u201d to presume he could immediately operate a sports team. \u201cI\u2019m not that silly,\u201d he says. \u201cBut I have come through a youth academy in the UK all the way up to where I got to, I can advise from an athlete\u2019s side. I\u2019ll start by trying to help from that side, learning and growing. I have my expertise in football, but it can translate into other sports, women\u2019s sports, and youth setups.\u201d<\/p>\n
He says there were times when his clubs may have benefited from the advice of a former high-level athlete, particularly with the physical expectations placed on players. Having suffered a serious back injury at the age of 18, he endured physical challenges throughout his career, at one point brushing his teeth standing on his heels to minimise the injury risk to his calves<\/a>.<\/p>\n He says: \u201cYou go through times in your career where you\u2019re really pushed, even though you\u2019re injured, to keep going. Sometimes you need someone to look after your well-being and then you can come out the other side stronger.\u201d<\/p>\n While in Manhattan, Bale and his son Axel were in tourist mode, stopping for photos at the New York Stock Exchange and scaling the Empire State Building. Bale has played in the U.S. on the west coast for LAFC, an experience he said he enjoyed, but he found the lack of competitive tension during the regular season required adjustment.<\/p>\n \n Gareth Bale and John Shulman speak to The Athletic\u2019s Adam Crafton (Courtesy of Juggernaut Diversified Sports\/Kees)<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no relegation, there\u2019s no consequence to losing,\u201d he says. \u201cAt Real Madrid, you lose a game, it is like the end of the world.<\/p>\n \u201cI remember the first game we lost at LAFC, I was expecting this bombardment of pressure, maybe abuse and articles to be written. But losing is kind of accepted\u2026 because maybe there\u2019s not such a big consequence but also it\u2019s a different environment. They bounce back straight away and it\u2019s go again. I enjoyed it. It\u2019s a bit more family-friendly.\u201d<\/p>\n On the field, Bale has also perceived a change in the sport, sensing the individual freedom that defined his game to be increasingly rare in modern players.<\/p>\n \u201cEspecially in the last five years, the manager has become a bit more dominant and it\u2019s a bit more of a tactical approach. Football is not so much an end-to-end game now. It\u2019s more of a chess game than a basketball game, which isn\u2019t as exciting\u2026 you don\u2019t see as much (dribbling) and the players don\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n \u201cMaybe that\u2019s because the managers are telling them but there are still a handful of those players that can get you off your seat, like Mbappe, Lamine Yamal and Vinicius Jr. But maybe there\u2019s just not as many because they\u2019re not allowed to be.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/spain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/20260615_Gareth-Bale-x-NYT-6575-scaled-e1782003221193.jpg\")
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