Fraizer Campbell reveals snus addiction that worsened sharply after retirement from football

Fraizer Campbell has opened up about a snus addiction that ran through his 446-game Premier League career and intensified after he retired in 2022, describing how the smokeless tobacco product became a daily dependency he struggled to shake.

The former Manchester United, Sunderland, Hull and Crystal Palace striker said he first turned to snus as a way to decompress after matches. “I felt relaxed, and it just chilled me out more than anything,” Campbell told The Sports Agents podcast. “After a game, it’s one of those things that it’s quite hard to relax after.”

Campbell admits he was fully aware the habit had become an addiction — something the product itself carries warnings about — but drew a firm line at matchdays, fearing it would blunt his competitive edge. “I would never have them on a match day because it chilled me out too much,” he said. “I’m a pretty chill person as it is. If I was more chilled, I’d struggle to get into a jog.”

Snus is a smokeless tobacco product made from ground or pulverised leaves, packaged in a small sachet that users place under their top lip. Its use has become increasingly common in professional football circles in recent years.

It was during his three-year spell at Crystal Palace’s Selhurst Park that Campbell says his use was at its peak while playing. The real deterioration, however, came once his career ended. “It got a lot worse after I finished playing football, but I didn’t really see the negative side of it while I was playing,” he conceded.

In retirement, with more unstructured time, the habit escalated. “When I had more time on my hands when I retired, I had more time to have the snus. While I was playing, I might have one or two in the morning and then for the next couple of hours I’d be out on the training pitch.”

Campbell says he is now clean. He is not alone among former professionals in discussing the issue: ex-Liverpool and Tottenham midfielder Danny Murphy has also publicly acknowledged being a regular snus user after retiring from the game.