Footballers and their personal brands

Most footballers, after retirement, take to doing regular jobs. Jobs in construction and management are the norm. But there are a select few who plan early and utilize their footballing fame to establish their own brand.There are many who have tried, but only a few have managed to recreate their footballing successes off the field.Here's a few of the footballers who have successfully established their own brand:

#1 Rio Ferdinand

Ferdinand poses with Harry Redknapp.

If you've ever perused through Rio Ferdinand's Twitter timeline, you would have found an endless barrage of tweets showcasing fans and celebrities wearing #5 caps and other accessories of the said brand. His tweets, while personal are also prone to being a bit too promotional. But who can blame him, after all, it's his own brand.

#5 brand encapsulates a sports and lifestyle magazine and fancy clothing range. He has garnered much attention and praise for his business acumen and active preparation for life after football. Among footballers with personalized brands, Rio is perhaps one of the most famous footballers.

#2 Dench - Frimpong

Emmanuel Frimpong while he was at Arsenal.

His football career has not gone according to plan, but Frimpong is assured of maintaining a healthy lifestyle irrespective of his footballing adventures, thanks to a well planned and publicized clothing range – Dench.

Dench is a fancy clothing range started by Frimpong and his rapper-cousin Lethal Bizzle. The brand caught on due to Frimpong's insistence on using the word Dench at every opportune moment. His funny and affable character made it popular with the Arsenal fans, and before you know it, Dench was selling T-shirts all over the world.

Frimpong can still be found spouting Dench at every opportunity, but it is more annoying now. The brand, regardless, carries on and is one of the premier means of Frimpong's income.

#3 CR7 - Cristiano Ronaldo

Cristiano Ronaldo posing for his brand.

One of Cristiano Ronaldo's passion, alongside football, is fashion. He can often be seen posing on the covers of fashion magazines and elucidating to interviewers about the importance of the color of socks you wear. So, it comes as no surprise that Ronaldo has a fancy clothing line himself, named after - you guessed it, himself.

The CR7 brand started off as a boutique in his hometown but has ballooned into a globally renowned name thanks to its owner. The brand recently made news because of the launch of an underwear collection which was launched through advertisements on iconic buildings in the 7 fashion capitals of the world.

#4 Good Kompany - Vincent Kompany

Vincent Kompany’s sports bar in Brussels.

One of Kompnay's lifelong dreams, along with being a professional football player, has been to own and operate a sports bar. He recently fulfilled this dream by opening two of these in Belgium. The bars are aptly named, Good Kompany.

The bar is supposed to be a relaxing lounge for food and football enthusiasts. The walls of the bar are adorned with shirts and boots of Kompany and those he's played with and against over the years, and the waitresses are dressed as referees. Kompany is said to be a very hands on manager/owner and is said to have personally overlooked every detail of the bar.

#5 Cafe Football - Gary Neville and Ryan Giggs

An exterior view of Cafe Football.

Together in football and together out of it, at least that seems to be the motto for Manchester United legends, Neville and Giggs. Early last year saw the opening of Cafe Football, a football themed restaurant, by the duo in a bid to provide comfort food with the luxury of enjoying your favorite sport, football.

This joint venture has been a long time coming and is said to be something the both have discussed for a long time. It is supposed to be a family oriented restaurant with football as its main draw. Everything in the restaurant, from the menus to the waitresses are all adorned in football. As of now there's only one branch, but there is promise of it evolving into a chain.