"It wasn't on my bingo card": The career change of the "most beautiful footballer in the world"

Ana Maria Marković, considered by many to be the "most beautiful footballer in the world," has once again attracted a lot of attention. The Hajduk Split player from the Croatian top league took a short break from football to try her hand at acting.

The blonde footballer shared on Instagram some behind-the-scenes clips from the filming of the movie "The Socceritos," a comedy western in which she plays alongside Swiss national team footballers Granit Xhaka and Zeki Amdouni, as well as western legend Terence Hill.

"I felt amazing. Thank you for this unforgettable experience! Participating in The Socceritos was definitely not on my bingo card... what an experience!", wrote Marković.

Fans flooded her with compliments. One of them wrote: "Wow, you can really do everything," and another added: "Congratulations, girl, your life has gone up another level." Her appearance also attracted attention again, with one commenter writing: "Ana, what beautiful eyes you have!".

Alongside the film, which is already showing in cinemas, Marković has joined the commentary team of the Swiss channel "20 Minuten".

26-year-old Marković signed about two weeks ago with Hajduk Split, which is the fifth stop in her career in five years. Recently, she played for Brooklyn FC in the American women's league, and before that, she wore the jerseys of Damaiense and Braga from Portugal and Grasshoppers Zurich from Switzerland.

Despite her huge exposure on social media, with more than 2.7 million followers on Instagram, quite a few fans have questioned her professional ability. According to Soccerdonna data, Marković has not scored since February 2023, when she was still playing for Grasshoppers. In the last three seasons, she has been without goals, despite being an attacking player, and in her last season in Brooklyn, she settled for one assist in 23 appearances.

Marković has been trying to recover since the severe injury she suffered in March 2023 in a match against Zurich, when she tore her cruciate ligament and meniscus and even broke her tibia. She underwent surgery and a long rehabilitation, and documented the road back to the pitch on social media.

In an interview she gave in the past, she said:

"I knew my whole knee was destroyed. I cried for four days in a row."

She also criticized the pitch conditions in that match: "The pitch was almost unplayable, and in some places, they just spread sand. Even during the warm-up, I said jokingly that I hope no one gets injured. The men's players would not have played in such conditions."