For sportsmen and women, injuries are an unwanted by-product of a career dedicated to the pursuit of a passion.

Many a promising career is over before it has even started due to injury, leaving a young player to pick up the pieces, their dreams dashed and a new vocation needed.

While such stories are sad, they are all too common in professional sport. And in football, many players are blighted by fitness issues throughout their time in the game.

Others suffer later on and for some, it is enough to curtail their careers. Here, a look at the famous footballers who were forced to hang up their boots due to injury...