M ost footballers like to spend their summers unwinding after a long season but not Pascal Gross. Having been part of the Germany squad eliminated in the quarter-finals of Euro 2024 , the midfielder entered – and won – a running race.

Gross completed the 8.4km course on Juist, in the East Frisian islands, in 31 minutes and 35 seconds. He is not known as someone who courts attention, and his victory by more than a minute came to light only when a video was posted on social media by a competitor.

Gross was moving from Brighton to Borussia Dortmund after seven years in the Premier League and reported to his boyhood club for pre-season training days later.…