Professional footballers don’t smoke, right? Well, these ten players will beg to differ. And brace yourself because some of the people on this list might surprise you, especially the last one.
. . I couldn’t believe one of the greatest of all time was actually a regular smoker!
But let’s start with the one that might be a little more obvious. . .
Mister Mario Balotelli! He was never one to give a damn about anyone’s opinions. Super Mario does what he wants whenever he wants!
And one of those things was apparently smoking. Balotelli was caught smoking multiple times in his career and the media did not spare him for it, especially when he had a goal drought at Liverpool. It got so bad that one time he even got in trouble with the law.
. . Thankfully it wasn’t because he was smoking anything illegal but simply because he was caught smoking on a train.
But guess what? Mario just wouldn’t stop smoking. And his reputation went so far ahead of him that when he was signed by AC Milan from Liverpool they had to ban his drinking and smoking as part of his signing conditions!
Imagine being the lawyer who drafted that contract. From that time on, he has never been seen smoking again. .
. Keywords “never seen”. But as soon as he left AC Milan he was back puffing clouds out of his lungs again and the day he was caught again made his situation even worse.
. . He was caught smoking on the day of his debut game at Brescia when they were going to play against Juventus.
That’s a huge match, Mario. What were you thinking? But once again.
. . Super Mario does what Super Mario wants.
Maybe it’s an Italian thing because the next person on the list played right next to Balotelli for years. . .
PSG was about to play a tight match against Manchester United but the night before the game was actually Neymar’s birthday party. You would expect players with such an important match ahead to stay calm and rest but Marco Veratti had other plans. .
. He went out partying the whole night, drinking and smoking before the game. But what happened in the game shocked everyone!
Instead of a poor performance, Veratti actually had the best passing accuracy, the most touches and the most fouls won! Everyone, including his critics, were amazed that he was able to perform this well despite his smoking habit, and the same goes for the next guy on the list. Remember Radja Nainggolan?
He’s actually one of the most popular smokers in football and he wears it like a badge. When he was at AS Roma he smoked so much that sometimes he would go and smoke with his assistant manager while his teammates were in the dressing room! But the shocking thing was that his lungs never affected him negatively on the pitch.
. . at least when he was in his prime.
AS Roma was cool with him smoking as long as he kept scoring but his current club Royal Antwerp aren’t fans of his smoking habits, especially if he does it on the pith? ! Yeah, you heard that right, during a league match, Nainggolan was benched and was so bored that he decided it’d be a great time to light a cigarette.
. . Royal Antwerp really didn’t like this move and ended up suspending him indefinitely.
"We had a conversation with him about certain situations and we have decided to remove him from the team indefinitely for behavior that reflects a negative image of the team” That was the official club statement and to be honest, I understand, this was just pushing it! If this is what Niangolan gets for smoking on the pitch, they definitely won’t hire Mauricio Sarri as their manager even if it was for free. Next on the list of smokers is Fabien Barthez!
One of the greatest French goalkeepers of all time but also one of the heaviest smokers on the French national team. . .
His smoking addiction was a known fact but it became more of an issue when he moved to England to play under Sir Alex Ferguson, who as we all know, is a no-nonsense coach. But surprisingly, Sir Alex didn’t even have a problem with Fabien's smoking. In fact, he knew about it before signing him.
What Ferguson had an issue with was drinking and the next guy is one that did a lot of drinking and smoking! Wayne Rooney, what can I say? One of the greatest English strikers of all time with an absolutely legendary career at Manchester United.
But Rooney was also often spotted doing very questionable things. . .
Like that time he was caught urinating in public. . .
But one of the biggest things people hated him for was his smoking and drinking habits. . .
especially the smoking. The fans and the media kept their foot on Rooney’s throat for his smoking. Lucky for him, Sir Alex let him play on without any issues, unlike Ashley Cole who had to leave his favorite team because of his addiction.
. . See, when Cristiano Ronaldo was asked who his toughest opponent was, he thought for a second, and then surprisingly mentioned the name “Ashley Cole”.
So I think it’s safe to say Cole can be considered one of the greatest left-backs to ever touch the ball but once again he had a heavy smoking habit. Emile Heskey even went so far as to call him a “chain smoker”. His performances were impressive on the field but his time at Chelsea was in danger because José Mourinho absolutely hates smokers!
He tried to get Ashley Cole to stop smoking but he wouldn’t or couldn’t. At this point, the chain-smoker knew he was getting closer to the end of his Chelsea career and finally left the club at the age of 33. Just imagine what he could have become if he didn’t get addicted to nicotine.
. . The same goes for his Arsenal teammate, mister Jack Wilshere Well to be fair, Jack was only spotted once with a cigarette but the English media decided to run with it.
They made it the talk of the town but this didn’t bother Wilshere at all and the reason might surprise you. . .
Because it was actually Arsène Wenger, his manager who told him to calm down, that it wasn’t a big deal, he reportedly even told him: “Don’t worry, when I have a drink I like a cigarette as well! ” Quite comforting to have a manager like that in your corner in such a situation but I’m not sure it’s the best advice to give a top-level athlete. .
. "At the time, I thought they (the media) were picking on me. I had support around me, from the manager.
Arsène was brilliant like that. ” Wilshere said. Things got worse for Wilshere when was caught smoking again, multiple times actually and he ended up apologizing publicly.
. . Wenger was great with Wilshere’s situation but Wojciech Szczęsny had an entirely different story to tell.
. . Arsenal had just lost a game against Southampton and Szczęsny decided to go into the dressing room and blow some clouds into the air but this was a terrible idea that would end up costing him a lot of money!
You see, Arsène Wenger didn’t have a problem with Szczęsny’s smoking, just like with Wilshere but he had one standing rule! No smoking in the dressing room. And unfortunately for Wojciech, someone saw him and snitched to Wenger.
. . He was hit with a 20,000 dollar fine but that wasn’t all.
. . That game against Southampton ended up being the last game he ever played for Arsenal under Wenger.
Szczęsny admits he made a big mistake in that situation. . .
Szczęsny now plays for Juventus to replace another legendary goalkeeper who got caught smoking. . .
The legend himself; Gianluigi Buffon See, Juventus had qualified for a Champions League final in 2017, and Buffon, who is known as one of the coolest guys in football history was caught on camera with a cigarette in his hand! This was the only time he was caught on camera but according to his former teammate Nicklas Bendtner, that definitely wasn’t the only time he enjoyed a cigarette. In fact, he claimed to have caught Buffon and Andreas Pirlo smoking in the toilets at Juventus.
. . "It was my first day, you know.
Then I found 10 or 12 of them in the toilets, just having a coffee, talking, enjoying each other's company, and having a cigarette. It was an amazing sight and made me feel like this was something I will enjoy. " Well, you and I were not there so we’ll have to take the lord’s word for it.
But the last guy on the list is probably the greatest dutch player of all time but unfortunately, his smoking habit ended up leading to his demise. . .
I’m sure you know Johan Cruyff, even if you’re young, the clips of this man have gotten millions upon millions of views! This guy won absolutely everything, both as a footballer and a coach. He won the Ballon d’Or three times.
He won the European Cup (which is now the Champions League) 4 times, 13 league titles, and 13 domestic cups! The only thing he couldn’t win was the World Cup but aside from that, he won it all. He absolutely loved football but unfortunately, he loved smoking just as much.
. . It was a part of his identity.
Now, how many cigarettes do you think he smoked a day? Take a wild guess because the real answer might shock you. Remember this is a pro footballer!
He smoked about 20 cigarettes a day! And this was at his prime as a player. And when he became a manager he decided to double that number and make it forty!
Talk about improvement. . .
But all this smoking obviously took a toll on Cruyff’s body. . .
And in 1991, he had to undergo a heart bypass surgery. But fortunately, that went well and he was able to live another 25 years, but then in 2016, he, unfortunately, passed away from lung cancer. .
. He died at the age of 68. He was definitely one of the very few people who were able to defy the effects of smoking and achieved incredible results in football whilst destroying his longs.
Could you imagine nowadays a top player like Haaland, Mbappé, or Neymar smoking a pack of cigarettes a day? Crazy right? Anyways, thanks for watching, be sure to like and subscribe and watch this video on screen, I’m sure you’ll love it!
