Iconic former Champions League star, 37, now a CHICKEN FARMER and even has zoo with ferrets and turtles

CHAMPIONS LEAGUE icon Marek Hamsik now runs a chicken farm and a zoo.

The Napoli legend made 520 appearances for the club with his distinctive mohawk haircut.

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But since hanging up his boots a year-and-a-half ago following a spell at Turkish side Trabzonspor, Hamsik balances being Slovakia's assistant manager and his love for farming.

Alongside his wife Martina and their three kids, the 37-year-old looks after chickens and has small zoo with ferrets and turtles in his homeland.

Hamsik told : "It's a relatively new hobby of ours. It all started in April last year during Easter, when we ordered hatching eggs, from which we later hatched little chicks.

"During that time, we managed to set up and equip the chicken coop.

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"The coop is custom-made. It is more like a hotel for chickens with built-in heating and ventilation, but also automatic doors that open in the morning so that we don't have to get up and check on them.

"It is truly luxurious and the chickens are perhaps even better cared for than we are.

"To date, we have 29 of them, and they lay around two dozen eggs a day.

"We have a lot of them and I'm already thinking about opening a store as I take care of the chicken coop with pleasure."

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Hamsik admitted it was his wife's idea to start the farm and they now have eggs for breakfast everyday.

On their animal kingdom, the former midfielder revealed: "Yes, it was her idea. She is a big animal lover in general, which she passed on to the whole family.

"If we could, we would have an animal shelter or a small zoo at home.

"Although we actually already have one, since we keep three dogs, a cat, the chickens, two turtles, six guinea pigs and two ferrets.

"We also had two roosters that hatched with us and we raised them ourselves, but since they are the same blood as the chickens, they couldn't stay with us."

Away from the animals, Hamsik opened a winery with his dad Richard and he boasts an impressive car collection that includes a Mustang and a Ferrari.

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