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High-profile footballers get to enjoy a lavish life as they are some of the highest paid athletes on the planet. It's easy to give in to the vagrancies associated with living a life of excess, and as such, being a teetotaler in such a world requires a lot of determination.
Some of the best footballers on the planet treat their bodies like a temple. They are picky about everything they consume and are uncompromising when it comes to maintaining their systems in optimal conditions.
Without further ado, let's take a look at players who don't drink alcohol for fitness reasons.
#5 James Milner (Liverpool)
Liverpool veteran James Milner is one of the most versatile and hard-working players in the Premier League. He is still a very good utility player at the age of 36 and that has a lot to do with how well he takes care of his body.
Milner does not drink alcohol. Former Manchester City physio Paul Webster revealed that Milner's teetolar lifestyle is one of the reasons why he has been able to perform at the highest level for two decades. In an interview with Goal in January 2022, Webster said:
“He looks young, he looks fit, he's probably got eight per cent body fat or something ridiculous.
"He's a bit like Ronaldo. I've never worked with Ronaldo, but I know people that have and I get the same impression. It's all the little things that add up, and they have more little things to add up.
“It's everything: drinking, James doesn't touch alcohol; food, he's meticulous with how much he eats; his timekeeping is perfect; he has goals – he wants to be fitter and stronger as months go by; his general behaviour and his internal discipline."
#4 Declan Rice (West Ham United)
Declan Rice stunned Premier League fans by revealing he has never had a pint of beer in his life. In an interview with TalkSport in 2021, Rice said that people get surprised when he tells them he has never had a beer in his life. He said:
“Do you know what, until this day I have never had a beer and I am 22,” he laughed. “That is the truth. Never had a pint. Don’t drink it.
“Not really [a drinker]. But a pint? No.
“I know it is off topic but I have never had a beer. People get surprised. I just don’t like the smell of it so I have never gone near it.”
Rice is one of the best midfielders in the English top flight and is known for his tenacity and doggedness. Now we know how he manages to keep that up week after week.
#3 Gareth Bale (Los Angeles FC)
Gareth Bale has maintained an incredible physique throughout his career. At the peak of his powers, he was one of the fastest and most athletic footballers on the planet. He still looks shredded and it has a lot to do with the fact that he stays away from alcohol as he doesn't like the taste of it.
Bale was once asked about his decision to stay away from drinking in an interview with Shortlist in 2011 and he said:
"I just don’t like drink, to be honest. It’s not the fact that I choose not to drink alcohol. I just don’t like the taste of it. I’ve obviously tasted it, but I just don’t like it so it doesn’t do anything for me to be honest. In a way, it probably helps me though."
As Bale puts it, it's the taste that turns him off but he also acknowledges the fact that it helps him with his career.
#2 Harry Kane (Tottenham Hotspur)
According to MARCA, Tottenham Hotspur striker and England captain Harry Kane does not drink alcohol. The Mirror, via an interview with the striker in 2017, claimed that Kane keeps away from alcohol unless Spurs win something. Since that hasn't happened in a very long time, it's safe to assume that Kane has not been drinking.
On being asked about his guilty pleasure in terms of food intake, Kane replied:
"Apple crumble. But my week is planned leading up to games to maximise my full potential."
Kane is someone who is very focused on maintaining a balanced diet and even has a chef at home to help him eat the right foods. He said:
"It kind of clicked in my head that a football career is so short - it goes so quickly, you've just got to try and make every day count.
"That's why I've got a chef at home now (to enable me) to eat the right foods, which is big for recovery, doing everything right."
#1 Cristiano Ronaldo (Manchester United)
Cristiano Ronaldo has maintained a wonderful physique throughout his career. It is no secret that the legendary Portuguese forward is very fastiditious when it comes to his diet and usually keeps away from alcohol. That's probably one of the reasons why he continues to be one of the best athletes on the planet even at the age of 37.
In an interview with DAZN (via MARCA) in 2019, Ronaldo admitted to having some champagne after winning the 2016 European championship with Portugal. He said:
"It was the most important trophy of my career. I laughed, I cried, I got a little drunk. During that game, I cried so much that I was dehydrated.
"At the end of the game, during the celebrations, I drank a glass of champagne and immediately it went to my head.
"I never drink, but that day was so special."
