There are many smoking footballers around the globe, but here is a shortlist of the top 10 smoking footballers;
Mesut Ozil
Smoking clearly hasn’t hampered Mesut Ozil. With five assists and a goal in his first five games for Arsenal, he seems to be doing okay. Ozil also ran 11.63 kilometres in the Gunners’ UEFA Champions League victory over Napoli – the third most of any Arsenal player.
Wayne Rooney
Wayne Rooney has regularly been pictured smoking, and the Manchester United forward has often been accused of not being at peak fitness for a footballer of his level.Robert Prosinecki
The former Croatia international was famous in his homeland for being a heavy smoker. He was as well known for his ability to chug away on more than 40 ciggies a day as he was for his midfield prowess. When he joined Portsmouth in 2001 word is that he cut down to 20 a day. Perhaps unsurprisingly, he lasted just one season at Fratton Park.
Dimitar Berbatov is probably the worst role model out there in terms of dissuading people to start smoking
Zinedine Zidane
Another Frenchie caught with a salmon between his lips was Zidane, who was snapped puffing away ahead of France's 2006 World Cup semi-final against Portugal. The thing is Zizou fronted an anti-smoking campaign in 2002. Doh!
Maradona
Maradona, one of the most prolific footballers in history, began to smoke after he retired from the game. He spent 10 days in intensive care in 2004 with breathing problems, which was probably down to smoking.
Johann Cruyff
Cruyff was smoking 20 cigarettes a day, prior to heart surgery in 1991, at a time when he was coaching Barcelona. He was also often seen lighting up in the RFK locker room as he talked to reporters. Nowadays, the legendary Dutchman fronts a campaign by the Health Department of the Catalan autonomous government against smoking. And to think, it only took him a double heart bypass to see the error of his ways.
Mario Balotelli
Mario Balotelli has always been somewhat of a maverick, a loose cannon who Jose Mourinho described as unmanageable.
The Italy international also enjoyed a cigarette on plenty of occasions, which former Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini wasn’t a huge fan of, but would allow if he found the back of the net consistently.
Fabien Barthez
The Frenchman was a high-profile smoker during his time in the Prem. After a game for Man United against Southampton in 2003, defeated manager Gordon Strachan was furious when he returned to his non-smoking office and found cigarettes stubbed out in an ashtray. It seemed that the injured Barthez had been in the room after being stretchered off in the second half. Strachan later quipped that he "must have been taken off for smoker's cough".
David James
The Portsmouth and England stopper confessed to a 15 year 20-a-day smoking habit in a newspaper column in 2008. "I spent most of my career puffing away on fags: after training,before matches and after. Other notable football smokers are ashley cole, socerate paul gascogine, teddy sherigham,jack wilshere. many believe lionel messi is also a smoker, but the claim was wrong as he was spotted with a stick candy .
