What do World Cup footballers eat?
About this episode
This episode explores the evolution of nutrition in football, highlighting how elite players' diets have changed over time.
Elite footballers are among the world's most finely tuned athletes. Every meal is carefully planned to fuel training, maximise recovery and prepare for the next match. But it wasn't always this way. In this episode of The Food Chain, Ruth Alexander explores how football's relationship with food has changed, from the days of steak and beef before a game to today's highly personalised nutrition plans. Sports historian Professor Matthew Taylor traces the evolution of football's food culture, explaining why clubs once left players to fend for themselves and how attitudes began to shift. Former Denmark international goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel reflects on how nutrition changed during his own career, and what modern players understand about food that previous generations didn't. Mona Nemmer, former Head of Nutrition at Liverpool FC and a nutritionist with the German national team, explains what elite footballers actually eat before, during and after matches, how meals are tailored to individual players, and why feeding a squad is about far more than calories alone. At major tournaments, those carefully designed nutrition plans have to work on the move. Giulio Caccamo, who was chef for…
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