Overweight footy players who showed that fitness is overrated

It is all well and good notching goals and assists when you have a six-pack, bulging pecs and a 50-inch vertical leap, but try doing all that when you are so out of shape that a light jog leaves you out of breath, or you have not been able to tie your own laces for weeks.

These were the obstacles that the players on this list were faced with and yet overcame them to become the greatest overweight footballers ever.

Dean Windass

Talk to any football fan from the city of Hull and they will tell you that Dean Windass is a hero, and one who managed to write his name into football folklore despite carrying a few extra pounds throughout his career.

Among his greatest moments were a Championship playoff final winning volley, which is perhaps the best goal ever scored by a man categorized as clinically obese.

Windass prowled the box for the Tigers and feasted on slips made by careless defenders

The Real Ronaldo

The debate still rages on about which Ronaldo has the better CV, but one thing is for sure; The Phenomenon was the only Ronaldo able to split elite defenses while carrying substantial amounts of excess timber. The Portuguese Ronaldo may well be a good man to use your Capocannoniere free bet on next season, but he will never have the waddle and chubby cheeks of his Brazilian counterpart. The real Ronaldo would not only bang in the goals in Serie A but could bring a smile to people’s faces at the same time, as they realised he was just as partial as they were to the finer things in life.

It seems to be a trait of Brazilian football geniuses in Italian football, with Ronaldinho and Adriano being cut from the same mold.

Ronaldo 2.0 is a bit too vain to let himself go in the off season

Neville Southall

There was a time when to be a top level keeper you just had to have a decent kick on you and a safe pair of hands, which was just as well for Neville Southall, who was about as nimble as a walrus.

Despite this he held down the number 1 jersey at Everton for most of his career and now owns Twitter on a daily basis.

Tomas Brolin

Few pro footballers have ever dared step on the field of play as badly out of shape at this Swede did.

Brolin ultimately fell foul of the pies and pints on offer in Yorkshire, where he endured a nightmare spell with Leeds United after the club had spent a record transfer fee on him.

Jan Molby

It is hard to believe that Jan Molby actually played for one of the greatest football clubs on earth despite being a physical wreck for most of that time.

What is even harder to fathom is how he won three league titles and two FA Cups. Ronaldo aside, he is undoubtedly the blueprint that all budding chubby players should follow.

Overweight footy players who showed that fitness is overrated