All athletes have their own rituals before a big competition: for some it is wearing lucky shorts, for others it is a particular breakfast on game day.
For footballers, it may include a ban on sexual relations, usually an edict from the team coach, on the basis that his players’ stamina and concentration will otherwise be affected.
At the 1998 World Cup in France, the then England coach, Glenn Hoddle, prohibited players from having sexual relations during the tournament. However, they were eliminated in the second round.
At the 2014 World Cup, teams from Russia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chile and Mexico were told to abstain from sex, while other teams were allowed to have sex within certain parameters: “not all night” for the French, nothing acrobatic (!) for the Brazilians, and only with wives, not girlfriends for the Nigerians.
Harry Kane of England celebrates after the victory following the UEFA Euro 2020 Championship semi-final between England and Denmark
WAG Megan Davison, wife of Jordan Pickford, Annie Kilner, wife of Kyle Walker, and Rebekah Vardy, wife of Jamie, during the 2018 World Cup
After all, it was the freedom-loving German team that took first place.
Outside of football, five-time Masters winner Tiger Woods was reported this year to have cut out sexual relations in the run-up to this year’s golf tournament. He lost.
In fact, some of the biggest names in football have stated that they believe sex the night before actually helps improve their performance, from Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo to Brazilian legend Pelé and Manchester United icon George Best.
So, as England approaches the Euros, which start in Germany next week, what does the science say about the usefulness of sexual bans? Is this something Gareth Southgate should consider introducing?
Although there is a lot of talk about it, “there is a lack of proper scientific research in this area,” says Rob Madden, a sports performance coach and physiotherapist who works with boxer Anthony Joshua and Formula 1.
‘And you can see why: it’s a difficult metric to measure. What kind of sex? With who? How long until you do sports? Do you measure sports results or biological markers, such as hormones? It’s complicated.
“Almost all of the most recent studies suggest that it doesn’t have a massive impact either way.”
There’s one outlier: A small study published last year in The Journal of Sports Medicine and Physical Fitness was the first to look at fitness in real-life competitions rather than in the lab, and to show that late-night sex prior to a match In fact, it can have a negative influence on the players’ performance.
The researchers enrolled 14 male players from an Israeli Premier League soccer team and evaluated their performance using GPS data of their movements in 88 soccer matches.
This was combined with telephone interviews after each game in which each player was asked if they had engaged in sexual activity the night before.
The team of psychologists and doctors found that the average speed during a match was slower when the participants had sex before the match (a reduction of 0.5 km/h, from 6.5 to 6).
Interestingly, they only reported having sex the night before a game in 10.2 percent of cases, suggesting that it was a rarity among players anyway, even though nearly 80 percent of men had relationships.
However, “it’s hard to draw decent conclusions from such a small study in isolation, but it’s an interesting addition to the conversation,” says Rob. ‘There are many possible reasons for this result; tiredness at night is one of them.
“But in the future, it would be interesting to see clubs and their scientific teams look at these things in more detail (if they were planning to enact a sex ban).
“For now, it is fair to say that athletes need to be able to check what impact sex has on their personal performance and whether this is a factor they should consider.”
Meanwhile, most studies on the relationship between sports performance and sex suggest that there is no strong link either way.
Coach Glenn Hoddle training with the England team during the 1998 World Cup
A 2022 review of available research, conducted by the University of California-Davis in the US, which analyzed nine studies with 133 participants (all but one male) noted that no study had examined the impact of sexual activity on actual competition (that is, how well they perform during a match), but rather they drew conclusions from the effects of sexual activity on physical fitness tests, including aerobic capacity, endurance, and muscle strength or power.
The researchers concluded that none of these factors were significantly affected by sexual activity of any type or duration between 30 minutes and 24 hours before testing.
“The evidence for restricting sex before sport is scarce, but it is emerging among professionals,” says sports performance psychologist Sally McGinn, who works with the British Paralympic badminton team and rugby players. “I think it’s a little outdated, given that the research on it doesn’t hold up.” So if science isn’t convincingly on their side, why has this idea stuck around for so long?
“Sometimes old wives’ tales last,” Rob says. “If a coach or another athlete tells you, just when you’re starting your professional career, that having sex will make you perform worse, that message will often remain for the rest of your career.”
Going against it can have a negative psychological impact, making the athlete doubt their abilities, Sally suggests. Most important, however, is the intention behind a sexual ban that can make it effective, she says: concentration and team bonding.
“What you take advantage of, and what does matter, is that when a team is working toward the top, they want to minimize and manage any distractions and focus on bonding as a team,” he says. “Whether it’s having sex or spending a weekend away, an athlete must ask themselves, ‘Am I fully prepared to perform at the level I’m expected to perform? Will this activity contribute to or detract from my ability to perform?’ ?perform at that level?’ ‘
Despite the team element, both experts suggest that whether sex can be a help or a hindrance to sports performance depends largely on the individual.
Sally says: ‘For some athletes, stopping (having sex) might take them out of their routine and what’s normal for them, and make them feel a little strange or nervous. For others, having sex late at night could affect their quality of sleep and in turn affect their behavior and the way they connect with their teammates because they will be cranky and tired.
This takes advantage of what Rob says is the most important factor before a big sporting event: rest and recovery.
As for the idea that sex itself drains an athlete’s energy, it is unfounded. Estimates place energy expenditure during sexual intercourse between 25 and a maximum of 100 calories, “which is not much for an elite athlete,” he says. (To put it in context, you can burn 25 calories by walking up the stairs several times and 100 with a 15-minute walk around the block.)
But what about the old notion that having sex “drains” a man’s testosterone?
The logic here is that you will then be less aggressive on the playing field, since the hormone is known to activate areas of the brain involved in aggressive behavior (along with sexual arousal).
In fact, scientific evidence suggests that sexual stimuli temporarily increase testosterone levels in both men and women, but also reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol and release “positive” calming hormones such as oxytocin.
Rob says: “A week or even a day before an event, an athlete needs to be fully fit – at that point there is very little we can do to improve their running speed or develop their fitness.”
The most important factor before a big sporting event is rest and recovery.
‘That time is about resting as best you can. So if you have sex, that could be a positive part of your recovery as it can reduce stress hormones, calm anxiety, and it can even be meditative because it’s something that should put your mind very “in the moment.”
In fact, a study published by the Journal of Sleep Research last year showed that men and women found that sex that culminated in an orgasm improved sleep quality.
Other studies have shown that people who did not have sex experienced higher levels of stress before big moments, such as a public speaking, compared to those who had sex in the fortnight before the engagement.
“But if, after sex, you share a bed with someone who doesn’t have the same sleeping temperature requirements, or who is tossing and turning, it could have the opposite effect,” says Rob.
So to really be ready for the game, sex may not be out of the question, but you might as well retire to the spare room afterwards to get a good night’s sleep.
This might be more suitable for footballers than a ban on sex, or risk leaving some angry WAGS in their wake.