Reigning MVP Joel Embiid confesses he’d ‘rather be a soccer player than a basketball player’

A feeling that is most common among athletes born outside the United States, is the fact that soccer is considered the world’s most loved and popular sport. Even some NBA superstars feel the same way, including reigning MVP Joel Embiid, who recently went on an interview and admitted that he always had dreams of becoming a soccer player. 

Despite his dominance on the basketball court, he compared his love for the football sport in comparison to the game he currently plays as a professional. “I’d rather be a football [soccer] player than a basketball player,” Joel revealed.

“That’s how much I love it. Football to me is like there’s nothing close to a bigger sport in the world, nothing close to it. I like the concept of the team. In basketball, if you have two good players you can win but in football, the team has to be together,” the Sixers center insisted.

Joel Embiid says soccer, not basketball, is his first love https://t.co/Yv0WTVXv2L

— Sports Illustrated (@SInow) January 30, 2024

The Philadelphia big man recalled how his size allowed him to bully other players on the pitch when he was younger, but eventually became a hindrance. Soccer requires a different type of flexibilty than basketball, so Joel’s height became an issue towards his dreams of kicking the ball for a living.

“I always wanted to be a striker, but I was just way too big,” he reminisced. “I found myself in the middle because I just felt like, I like to control, make the passes and just control the whole game. Obviously being bigger than everybody else, I was more physical and people were actually scared of me because I would just make some move and act like I’m going to kick you in the foot, and everybody would be scared.”

The 29-year-old was a fan of former Ivory Coast star Yaya Toure, who played for both Barcelona and Manchester City about a decade ago. “I was kind of the bully, but like a Yaya Touré, physical presence, big, tall. But yeah, I enjoyed it. I wish I had more talent to be professional, but I guess I didn’t,” he said.

“If Joel was a couple feet shorter, yeah,” Joel pondered about it some more. “At seven feet, I don’t think so. Even in goalkeepers, I don’t think I’d be good at seven feet. But yeah an alternate universe where Joel is better than Messi, Ronaldo? Yeah, for sure. I would have been.”

Embiid eventually understood that his physique was made to dominate the basketball courts and strived to one day play in the NBA

Even though his soccer dreams were abandoned quite some time ago, the young Cameroonian understood that he was made to dominate the basketball courts, as he’s proving today in the NBA. The current MVP was drafted in 2014 by the 76ers and he’s remained loyal to Philadelphia ever since.

Today, Joel has bloomed into a seven-time All-Star and one of the best athletes to ever grace the Sixers jersey. The big man also made eight All-NBA selections and conquered the scoring title twice.

Not too long ago, the superstar added another milestone to his impressive career when he broke his franchise’s scoring record for a single match. He delivered a 70-point display against Victor Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spurs on January 22, and ranked as the 12th highest-scoring exhibition in league history.

Nowadays, the seven-footer is convinced that his dreams of playing soccer are in the past, and he’s more than grateful to keep performing night after night in the basketball world. “I watch football because I love it and I grew up watching it and I grew up loving it, but I think I also love football because it’s a dream that I was never able to accomplish. I want to feel what it’s like. I want to be part of it,” Embiid concluded.