At 6ft 7in, he had a successful football career spanning more than 20 years – playing for 11 different clubs across England before retiring at the age of 38.
But it is Peter Crouch’s success off the pitch that is catching people’s attention now.
Since leaving professional football back in 2019, he has become known for his quick wit and humorous personality in the entertainment industry. Top brands were willing to put aside the fact that he is not a handsome archetype like Sir David Beckham or Jack Grealish. That didn’t matter because the British public loved him anyway – or perhaps because of it.
And now, say insiders, the former Liverpool, Queens Park Rangers and Tottenham Hotspur striker is earning almost as much as he did when he was a footballer – and is worth just shy of £30million.
Crouch has several huge brand deals, including with M&S and Debenhams, as well as booking TV appearances and working on his two podcasts.
My source says: ‘Peter is one of the few footballers who has been as successful post-football as during it. Brands see him as a licence to print money. They all want a slice, and he knows it. So many of his contemporaries have struggled to have careers after retiring, but Peter is earning millions and he doesn’t even have to train every day any more.
‘It’s bizarre: he’s no Beckham in the looks department but it’s actually his unusual physique and ability to have a laugh that makes him so appealing. His super-handsome mates must be furious!’
Indeed, Crouch’s sense of humour has certainly helped to put him on the map. Shortly after he began dating his glamorous wife Abbey Clancy in 2006, London-born Peter was asked, ‘What would you be if you weren’t a footballer?’ His now infamous and cheeky response? ‘A virgin.’
One of the most famous ads Peter has appeared in was alongside Abbey for lingerie brand Agent Provocateur.
In the ad, model Abbey is seen wearing £1,500 worth of red underwear as she sashays into a pub and ties Peter to a snooker table. The skit, which ends with Abbey aiming the cue ball at a very intimate area, reaped dividends for the firm when it was released ahead of Christmas in 2024. Agent Provocateur later reported that sales of its high-end underwear soared by 20 per cent.
While Abbey had been the face of Agent Provocateur for a decade before the ad, it was Peter’s first appearance, and his involvement, wearing the brand’s boxer shorts, is credited with helping boost the company’s appeal among male shoppers.
This wasn’t the first time Abbey and Peter had worked with a brand together, as the couple were officially announced as Marks & Spencer’s ‘food ambassadors’ in November 2023. They post regular promotions on their social media pages in collaboration with the company.
In 2024, the offers kept coming, and Peter signed a six-figure deal with Ariel to front the washing brand’s TV campaigns, appearing on screens across the country daily.
He landed another six-figure deal at the end of 2025, starring in Debenhams’ Christmas advert alongside Olivia Attwood and Judi Love.
Last year, he appeared in another TV ad for Nationwide Building Society alongside choreographer Louie Spence.
More recently, Peter and Abbey appeared in a playful TV advert for Chery cars. The pair said at the time they ‘had a lot of fun filming together because it felt real and they had plenty of laughs’.
Today, it’s no secret that Peter and Abbey – former member of girlband Genie Queen in her home city of Liverpool – have become a power couple.
They met in 2006 when they were at the dawn of their respective careers – as Peter had just joined Liverpool FC, while Abbey was carving out her place in the modelling industry.
And now, 20 years on, they have four children, Sophia, 14, Liberty, ten, Johnny, seven, and Jack, six, and have made themselves into household names.
Since being a runner-up on Britain’s Next Top Model in 2006, Abbey has been no stranger to TV appearances and high-profile campaigns herself. She won Strictly Come Dancing in 2013, while also starring in shows such as Hell’s Kitchen.
Peter started making a name for himself after joining Liverpool as a striker, before being capped 42 times by England between 2005 and 2010.
Following retirement in July 2019, the footballer began working for BT Sport and Amazon Prime as a pundit.
He then bagged his own BBC show Peter Crouch: Save Our Summer in 2020. The eight-part television series was a response to the widespread cancellation of public activities in sports, music, and comedy amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
Building off this, he partnered with popular gambling brand Paddy Power, which had by then marketed itself through social media.
He also began to host the That Peter Crouch Podcast on YouTube in early 2022 with Chris Stark, who was then a co-host on BBC Radio 1.
Peter then made his name known to new fans by taking to the screen as a panellist on The Masked Dancer in 2022.
The couple have since launched a joint podcast, The Therapy Crouch, where they divulge details of their own long-term relationship and explore the trials and tribulations of their marriage.
Peter, Abbey, and their children live in a luxurious Surrey mansion said to be worth £3million, which features a swimming pool, a huge garden and a home cinema.
While they admitted their finances took a hit during the lockdowns, they have since been building their brand back up.
More recently, Peter and Abbey launched Marvellous Media in 2024 with her father, John Clancy. With the company still in the early stages, last year they were £12,620 in the red, but with business booming now, it is likely to turn profitable in the coming years.
And with lucrative brand deals rolling in, they have also enjoyed other perks, including jetting off on numerous free family holidays with different companies.
In November 2025, Peter shared an Instagram post in collaboration with British Airways Holidays. It included a slew of fun snaps from his trip with Abbey and their kids to Universal Orlando.
Other talent in attendance included Holly Willoughby and Denise van Outen, who also brought their children.
Just a few months earlier, in April, Peter and Abbey jetted off to Qatar with their kids – enjoying water sports and trips to the beach.
They captioned the Instagram post: ‘Thank you @visitqatar for looking after us, we had the best trip making fabulous memories together as a family #ad’.
And in between their gifted trips, they often rent luxurious yachts to enjoy the summer breaks cruising around Europe.
So, while his days on the pitch might be long behind him, it seems the future is lucrative for Peter and his family, who will seemingly continue to cash in for the foreseeable future.
‘He’s loving it,’ says my source. ‘He has been ribbed all his life and look who is having the last laugh.’
