Arjen Robben completes Rotterdam Marathon in insanely good time | OneFootball

Football fans remember Arjen Robben for being a menace on the wing, a pure speed merchant who would cut in on his left foot and clinically finish.

But the Dutchman swapped short bursts of speed for long-distance running this weekend, as he completed the Rotterdam Marathon in an insanely good time.

It has nearly been two years since Robben retired from professional football, with the winger spending most of his career at German giants Bayern Munich.

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During that time, he scored 144 goals and provided an additional 101 assists.

He also made 96 appearances for the Netherlands, playing in the 2010 World Cup final against Spain, and scoring 37 goals during his international career.

Robben’s brilliant marathon time

The attacker also had spells at PSV Eindhoven, Real Madrid and Chelsea, and won several league titles and cups over his career.

His playing days came to an end in 2021 at the club where he made his senior football debut, Groningen.

But he has not enjoyed retirement as one might expect, instead challenging himself in a different sporting environment.

The Dutchman decided to attempt the Rotterdam Marathon in 2022 for the first time, completing the 42-kilometre run in 3:13:40 in his first attempt.

Unsatisfied with his time though, Robben decided to enter again for 2023, and ran the race last weekend.

And he completed the course in a staggeringly good time of 2:58:33.

It’s a phenomenal effort from the ex-pro, and you can watch him crossing the finish line below.

Watch: Robben completes the 2023 Rotterdam Marathon

Robben broken after huge effort

To put things into perspective, running 42km in around three hours means averaging a kilometre just over every four minutes.

And that incredible pace was enough to place Robben 1189th out of 16,837 other runners.

That’s an absolutely insane speed. And what is even more crazy is that the male and female record holders for the event are Bashir Abdi and Tiki Gelana, with times of 2:03:36 and 2:18:58 respectively.

Unsurprisingly, Robben spoke after the event about how tough he had found the race.

“I'm really broken, but I made it,” he said after the race, according to The Sun.

“For a sprinter like me, such a distance is very long. But I like sports and challenges.”

He added: “I'm no longer a top athlete, but I can say I think it's top sport when you can run a marathon in under three hours.

“That comes very close to winning a major football title. Great, I can tick that off.”