Nutrition in sports is as important as practice, scrimmages, and physical training.
Sports as a physical exercise requires a healthy body. Nutrients help to build a healthy body, which are toned by soccer workouts.
It is important to note that soccer players have to be lean. Body fat and bulky muscles are not optimum for a soccer player.
There have been a few like Adebayo Akinfenwa who managed to have a good career with this “limitation,” but they focused on using their strength to their advantage.
Want to build your strength, speed, and agility as a soccer player? Keep reading!
What is the Best Food Before a Soccer Game?
In a professional match, players can cover anywhere from 7 to 14 kilometers (4.3 to 8.7 miles). This means they need loads of stamina in addition to speed, strength, and agility.
As a soccer player, you can’t satisfy your cravings when you have a soccer game coming up, even if your preferred meal is rich in nutrients. The right nutrients do a lot of heavy lifting in bodybuilding.
So, here are some recommended foods to have before a soccer game.
Meal ideas if your game is before lunch:
- Pancakes, scrambled eggs, and fresh sliced fruit
- Fruit smoothie, bagel with nut butter and honey
Meal ideas if your game is after lunch/before dinner:
- Grilled salmon, steamed rice, green beans, dinner rolls
- Roasted chicken breast, baked sweet potato, fresh mixed berries, dinner roll
How to Get Energy Before a Soccer Game?
Carbohydrates provide soccer players with the energy needed to perform at their best for 90 minutes.
When consumed properly, carbohydrates end up dormant in a player’s working muscles, waiting to be activated when the active energy source depletes during games.
No matter what you choose to eat as a soccer player, make sure to enjoy high-carbohydrate meals very often.
The kind of carbs soccer players need can be gotten from the following sources:
- Fruit: Fresh, frozen, dried, natural juices
- Starchy Vegetables: Potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, green peas
- Grains: Rice, pasta, quinoa, bread, oatmeal, breakfast cereal
- Dairy: Milk, yogurt
Everybody knows that proteins work to activate the carbohydrates within our bodies. This combination helps muscle growth and strengthening.
Lean protein, specifically, is what soccer players need to get energy before a game. Get them from the following food sources.
- Seafood, poultry (without skin), pork, lean red meat
- Eggs
- Deli meat
- Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese
- Tofu
- Nuts and nut butter
How Long Before a Soccer Game Should I Eat?
A pre-game meal is the meal you have before you play sports.
Lionel Messi of Inter Miami used to have a big problem thanks to his pre-game meals. He had a sweet tooth and loved having junk food and fizzy drinks. He would have them before practice and a game.
This resulted in many vomiting episodes and even a period when he was really fat for a football player.
Luckily for him, he’s Messi, so those setbacks didn’t do much to affect his output. Not everyone is Messi, though, which means your pre-game meal plan is very important.
When determining your pre-game meal, consider how much time you have before the match.
The best time to schedule your pre-game meal is three to four hours before the game. This allows time for your body to digest the meal and to go to the bathroom if needed.
The pre-game meal should include carbohydrates, lean protein, and be low in saturated fat.
What Not to Eat the Night Before a Soccer Game?
Fatty foods also contain a lot of energy, but they take a while to break down. The slow process of breaking down fat can lead to a person feeling heavy or bloated, which is not what any soccer player worth their salt wants before a game.
This means one thing: As a soccer player, DO NOT EAT FATTY FOODS THE NIGHT BEFORE A GAME.
Proteins can also be tough to break down before a game, which is why LEAN PROTEIN is specified.
Having mentioned this, here are some foods you should avoid as a soccer player the night before a match.
- Heavy cream, cheese, or buttery sauces
- Fried or greasy foods
- Dessert foods
- Whole grains (high-fiber)
- Beans and legumes
You can eat them after a game to recover lost nutrients and refill your energy reserves.
Should I Eat Eggs Before a Soccer Game?
Eggs are a superfood.
Everybody in the fitness industry recommends you infuse it into your diet. Some eat as much as eight eggs daily because of the lean protein it provides for the human body.
It can be consumed raw, boiled (hard or soft) or scrambled.
Eating eggs before a game is recommended. However, the amount is what’s important.
Eating more than three eggs at once can lead to cardiovascular problems, whether you play sports or don’t.
To be on the safe side, one or two eggs with other foods are the best for your pre-game meals.
Also, eating them 3 – 4 hours before the game as I’ve stated before is the best hack to unleash the nutrients and the energy you need to perform at your best on the soccer field.
Eat more eggs.
Final thoughts
I’ll end this article with a story about one of the best goalkeepers in the sport.
Dino Zoff is an Italian legend who helped to change the face of Italian football in the late 1960s to early 1980s.
He almost did not have a football career though. His coaches considered him too small and fragile for the role of a goalkeeper.
It took the intervention of his grandma, who made him eat eight eggs every day. This led to rapid muscle development within Zoff’s body, which also led to growth.
He also became really strong and agile as a result of the energy that was bursting through him after the proteins in the eggs activated them.
This is how he worked his way back into his team, became a professional football player, and ended up as the oldest man to ever win a FIFA World Cup.
He retired not because he wasn’t able to continue, but because he wanted to give space to the younger generation.
This is how important a soccer player’s diet is.
