At 31, Niklas Sule has already stepped away from professional football. Throughout his closing years at the elite level, the naturally burly centre-back routinely found himself under scrutiny in the headlines over his weight.

It was an issue the player tackled head-on during an appearance on the "After the Final Whistle" podcast, confessing that his lifestyle often left much to be desired. "Maybe I drank three beers and ate at McDonald's too often during my professional career," he conceded. "I didn't want to spend 15 years focused solely on football; I liked to enjoy myself. Life is too short not to do what you want."

Now well away from the media spotlight, Sule continues to turn out at amateur level in the German ninth tier, an environment that allows him to pursue a much simpler ambition: "I just want to play football and have a beer with my mates."