Light Up That Cigarette! Top 10 Footballers who smoke

Jack Wilshere kicked off a massive debate last evening when a picture of him smoking outside a nightclub began making the rounds. Everyone, right from the media persons to people on social networking sites began discussing if this was actually true and the “How could Jack do such a thing?” questions began making the rounds.

But Wilshere isn’t the only footballer to be caught smoking on camera. There have been many in the past and there will be many more in the future. Here’s a list of the top 10, well-known footballers who used to smoke while playing for their country or club.

1. Socrates

Along with being a professional footballer and a medical student, Socrates was a two-packs-a-day chain smoker too. Not that it reflected in his playing career, that is. He captained Brazil in two World Cups and didn’t fail to perform in either. The thrilling slothfulness which was quite apparent while taking penalties could probably be credited to the amount of nicotine quantity inside of him.

He did make a brief comeback with Garforth Town in the Northern Counties East League in England in 2004, almost a decade after retiring, but that lasted for just 20 minutes. He said he’d smoked way too many cigarettes and it was impossible for him to play any longer.

2. Gianluca Vialli

While he did admit to smoking, Vialli was also of the opinion that it was a healthier alternative to getting drunk every night. During his playing career, Vialli was caught smoking many-a-times after being substituted. It is also rumoured that during the 1990 World Cup, he was spotted trying to smoke sneakily next to the bench.

For someone who was as addicted to nicotine as him, it definitely wasn’t a surprise when he carried on his smoking habits even after becoming Chelsea’s manager.