Soccer fans who spend time watching the month-long World Cup on television may end up looking like a football, claims a new study.

Although playing football is healthy, couch potatoes are increasingly falling prey to the temptations of pizza, chips and beer while watching matches at odd hours, says a survey by the Jenny Craig health firm.

In her case study, dietician Karen Inge found that fans consumed up to 385 grams of fat on a typical football night, as opposed to the recommended daily intake of 70 gm.

One solution, says Inge, could be asking wives and girlfriends to padlock their fridges. Another could be warning their spouses that the high-fat diet would leave them a few kilos heavier by the time the World Cup final swings by on July 9.

Jenny Craig Chairman Harry Mowson is also concerned by this unhealthy trend among football fans.

'Typical bloke favourites like pizza, chips, chocolate bars, and beer could amount to a whopping 29,100 kilojoules and 384 grams of fat in one night,' he was quoted as saying in the Sydney Morning Herald.

"This is an overwhelming amount of food for the body to consume, particularly if there is no energy being burnt through regular exercise," he said.