Before And After Shots Of The World's Fattest Footballers

Dan Fitch looks at the before and after photos of the footballers who couldn't pass a McDonald's as well as they could pass the ball.

Staying slim is easy when you're a young footballer, playing twice a week with training in-between.

When they get older though, a footballer's penchant for a beer and a burger can become more apparent, as their metabolism slows down at the same rate as their legs and the training is replaced with the sidelines or retirement.

Here are some before and after shots of the players who started their careers in great shape, only to become known as fat footballers.

Ferenc Puskas

As Ferenc Puskas and Hungary warmed up on the Wembley turf, one England player was heard to remark, "Look at that little fat chap. We'll murder this lot." England actually lost 6-3 as Puskas proved that being little and fat didn't mean that he wasn't one of the world's greatest players.

Kevin Pressman

It must be difficult for goalkeepers to keep their weight down as they get older. Unlike outfield players they don't have to do much running around and by the end of his career Kevin Pressman looked like the only time that he'd break into a jog was on his way to the chip shop.

John Barnes

Barnsey might have been a lot slimmer when he played for Watford, but his bulging thighs were always a clue towards his potential for adding meat to the bone. By the end of his playing days, Barnes wasn't seen dribbling past anything unless it was deep fried.

Andy Reid

Andy Reid was born in the wrong era. Today most wingers are fleet-footed types who make Linford Christie look a bit slow, but Reid plodded onto the scene with plenty of trickery, yet little pace. Though often compared to Maradona, it only because of the barrel chest.

Jan Molby

Jan Molby was always a stocky lad, but in his early days at Liverpool he was in good enough shape to wear the skin tight Crown Paints sponsored kit of the day, without giving anyone nightmares. As time wore on however, those Liverpool shirts started to look a little more snug on the expanding Molby.

John Hartson

Hartson looked so different in his Arsenal days. A full head of ginger hair was worn above a face that wasn't yet ravaged by the much replayed mental image of himself kicking Eyal Berkovic in the mush. He was also a fair bit thinner.

Sol Campbell

Campbell was one of the quickest footballers around in his pomp, but those twenty pieces of silver he accepted obviously bought a lot of junk food. He presumably joined Newcastle because he thought that the vertical stripes on their shirts would have a slimming effect.

Neville Southall

Considering that there was once a goalkeeper known as 'Fatty' Foulkes, it says a lot that Neville Southall has become the poster boy for tubby shot stoppers. Always a bit scruffy, in the latter years of his career Southall added a few pounds to his distinctive look.

Benni McCarthy

In his first season at Blackburn Benni McCarthy looked like a lean, mean goalscoring machine. Now at West Ham, McCarthy was recently fined £200,000 by the club for being too chubby, as his body fat level rose to 24.2%. The South African international was ditched from their World Cup squad this summer, for fear of the damage he might cause to their substitute bench.

Adriano

How Adriano must curse the fact that he was born in the same era as Ronaldo. Though a brilliant striker in his own right, he was never quite as good as the World Cup's leading goalscorer of all time. The final insult came when Adriano decided to become really fat, only to once again be eclipsed by Ronaldo, whose weight gain proved to be marginally funnier.

Neil Ruddock

Ruddock was a big lump during his days at Spurs and Liverpool, but he started to really pile on the pounds in his spells at West Ham and Crystal Palace. Things came to a head at Swindon, when the club had to commission an extra large pair of shorts to be made that could fit around Ruddock's ample rump.

Tomas Brolin

Always a little chubby, the former Sweden international Tomas Brolin nevertheless used to be lithe enough to jump up in the air like this. Now he looks as though he struggles to stand up after sitting down on the toilet.

Ronaldo

When Cristiano Ronaldo burst on to the scene, football fans were in need of a way to differentiate him from the Brazilian Ronaldo. Thankfully the original Ronaldo put on loads of weight and from then on could be known as 'Fat Ronaldo'. We hate to think what retirement is going to do to his waistline.

Diego Maradona

It's fair to say that Maradona has always done things to excess, so it was no surprise when his weight ballooned after his retirement. Diego has since shed the pounds, but no one would bet against an Oprah-style weight reversal from a character from whom you should always expect the unexpected.

Neil Shipperly

He might not be as famous as Ronaldo and Maradona, but surely no footballer has ever earned a living as a professional while looking like Neil Shipperly does in this second picture. Unrecognisable from his days as a promising striker at Chelsea, it was during a second spell at Crystal Palace that Shipperly transformed into a figure of fun. Like Neil Ruddock and Tomas Brolin before him, it seems as though the lure of all those fried chicken takeaways in South East London were too much to resist.

Published: 31 Mar 2011

• Facebook
• Digg
• Stumbleupon
• Reddit