Tom Brady Visited His Soccer Team in Birmingham This Weekend

Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: an NFL great recently paid a visit to the city where he’s one of the owners of the local soccer team. Said (American) football player stopped by a local pub, took in a game, and generally made with a charm offensive to make inroads with the community. It’s not a bad idea at whatever stage of the game the team plays at — but it’s especially surreal when the NFL great is Tom Brady.

Brady recently became an owner of Birmingham City F.C., who play in the English second division and have a longstanding rivalry with the city’s other big team, the Premier League’s Aston Villa.

As ESPN reported, Brady took in Birmingham City’s Saturday match against Leeds United — but before doing so, he stopped at The Roost, a pub located near the team’s stadium, to chat with some of the team’s local supporters. As for Birmingham City, they had a good day — defeating the recently-relegated Leeds United by a score of 1-0. (As for their local rivals, Aston Villa lost to Newcastle by a score of 5-1.)

Brady isn’t the only recently-retired NFL player to take an ownership stake in an English soccer team — nor is he the only one to ensconce himself at a pub beloved by that team’s supporters. Earlier this year, J.J. Watt — who’s now an owner of the recently-promoted Burnley — went on a pub crawl through the city.

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While Burnley and Birmingham City currently play in different tiers of the English soccer system, it’s entirely possible that Brady and Watt could find their respective teams matched up in one of England’s two domestic cup competitions this year. Keep one eye on the Carabao Cup and FA Cup draws — and the other on social media for what could be some highly entertaining banter.