Wanting to replay football but lost all pace and stamina

Hey there,

This subforum doesn't seem very active, but I'll still try it anyway.

Also, English isn't my native language, so pardon my English if I make any mistakes.

I've played football for 6 years and stopped playing at 18. I'm now 23 and would like to play again. When I played I was either a winger or a forward, and my main quality was clearly my speed. Don't wanna brag (ok, maybe just a little...) but I was fast, like crazy fast. I've always been the fastest player in every team I played. My shooting was pretty good too. I could throw some good passes, but I'd say my passing & crossing were pretty average. I was a decent dribbler, but here's the thing: the only reason I was able to get past players was because I was faster than them, not because of any superior technical ability. I was usually better in counter-attacks and would struggle in tight spaces. Although, from what I can remember, I had decent close control at high speed, but nothing exceptional. I was also an excellent penalty taker, if that's worth anything

Now, since then I've gained plenty of weight (fat, not muscle lol). I'd say I'm around 10-15 kg heavier than when I was 18.

In the last few years I've played a few times with friends and... I was terrible. I had zero stamina, my speed was completely gone, and I can't get past a single player anymore (which I guess is because I always relied heavily on my pace for dribbling).

So my questions are:

- Can you still improve technically, even at my age with years without playing? Like, if I was pretty bad at dribbling in tight spaces when I played, can I still become at least decently good at it if for instance I play some futsal?

- Will I regain my speed by just losing my excess weight and body fat, or could my speed loss be due to other factors as well?