Think of a sports person and someone with a god-like physique is likely to pop into your mind. That is especially the case with football, which remains a sport in which most players are lithe and physically fit, completely unlike the heavier and more robust nature of the likes of rugby.
The long-lasting nature of the sport, combined with the needs of the various teams that play in the top divisions, sometimes sees players on the heavier side make it in the biggest leagues in Europe. Whilst most of them will be unknown to the majority of readers, some of them may well be well known.
What We’re Talking About
It is worth bearing in mind that the majority of football players will fit into a specific bracket when it comes to their weight. Lionel Messi, for example, comes in at 159 pounds, which is only two pounds short of Kylian Mbappé. Cristiano Ronaldo is heavier at 184 pounds, but still within the realms of what you might have come to expect from a professional player.
With that in mind, we’re looking at those that have tipped the scale at a much heavier rate, which is how they’ve made it onto our list.
William Foulke (336 Pounds)
You have to dip back into the history books to find one of the heaviest players ever to play the game. William Foulke was a goalkeeper who played his games in the latter part of the 19th century and into the 20th, so his need to be lithe and fit wasn’t quite as pressing as it is today.
@chizzyfooty The world most fatest football player 💀😭 #football #williamfoulke ♬ original sound – Chizzy footy
Even so, the records show that he came in at 336 pounds, which is more than double the weight of Lionel Messi. You shouldn’t make the mistake of thinking that just because he was big he didn’t achieve much, though; he played for Sheffield United and Chelsea, winning the First Division in 1898.
Adriano (253 Pounds)
Brazilian players are always thought of as being exciting and attacking prospects, which was the case with Adriano during his peak years. He helped his national team win the Confederations Cup in 2005, for example, and won the Serie A title four times when he was lining up for Inter Milan.
During his latter years, however, he began to lose the physicality that had made him such a difficult player for defenders to handle. By the time he was lining up for Milan United in the United States of America, Adriano had put on enough weight to mean that he was tipping the scales at 253 pounds.
Benni McCarthy (249 Pounds)
Born in Cape Town, South Africa, in 1977, Benni McCarthy played as a forward for clubs such as Ajax, Porto and West Ham United. He remains the all-time top scorer of the South African national team, which is something not to be sniffed at, but it was whilst in England that he was at his heaviest.
Being six foot tall meant that he was already an imposing presence, but when his weight hit the 249-pound mark, it’s fair to say that that sense of being imposing went to another level. A player who had previously depended on his pace, he was no longer able to do so and he soon fell out of favour in the Premier League.
Tomas Brolin (242 Pounds)
Per Tomas Brolin won some decent silverware during his career, driving the midfield at Parma when the Italian club lifted the Coppa Italia in 1992, the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1993 and the UEFA Cup two years later. He also picked up just shy of 50 caps for his national team.
Whether he discovered pasta and pizza when he was in Italy is difficult to say, but in the years that followed, he began to pile on the weight to the point that he weighed 242 pounds by the time he was playing for Crystal Palace. That might explain why he only played for the Eagles 13 times in the Premier League.
Jan Koller (238 Pounds)
Obviously, your natural weight will be a part of what adds pounds to the scales when you get weighed, but taller players also tend to struggle more than most on that front. Given the fact that the Czech Republic player was six foot seven and a half inches, it is perhaps not all that surprising that he features on our list.
He actually began his career as a goalkeeper before being moved to become a striker, offering a decent target for wingers looking to put a cross in. He was once referred to as a ‘human lighthouse’ by the media, whilst his teammates called him Dino because of his exceptional height.
Neville Southall (238 Pounds)
One of the questions some footballers might like to ask is what the point is at which their weight is taken. The fact that Neville Southall’s weight ballooned in the wake of his retirement might well answer that, given that he will certainly have weighed more than 238 pounds at various points.
@dirtylaundryfc Everton legend Howard Kendall remembers the day he discovered the best goalkeeper of the 1980’s, Big Neville Southall! (YT: MarineHolidayPark) #football #footballedit ♬ original sound – Dirty Laundry Football Stories
The Everton goalkeeper was six foot one, which allowed him to make the sort of saves that see him remembered as one of the Premier League’s greatest ever ‘keepers. The fact that he also weighed 238 pounds might well have slowed him down closing down players, but he still helped Everton win some silverware the club can only dream of in the modern era.