“Nobody is doing anything”
This football star is a chain smoker
17.03.2025 – 12:20 p.m.Reading time: 2 min.
In the 1990s it seemed common for soccer players to smoke in the professional sector. Gradually it became taboo. But a well -known star player is a smoker.
“I live no different today than a professional at the time. I smoke my cigarette, I go to my vodka-lemon, go on a lot and sleep little,” said Mario Basler in the Sport1 podcast “Dear Football” a few years ago. In addition, the 56-year-old ex-Bayern star (1996 to 1999) said: “Even Oliver Kahn smoked-more than me-which was difficult.” One should think that competitive athletes would not smoke. But at least 20 to 30 years ago, it was common.
Even after the time of Basler, there were always football professionals who smoked from time to time. So Bundesliga record joker Nils Petersen in the podcast “Simply just luppers” by Toni and Felix Kroos previously smoked a “couple a day”. However, not in public because he didn’t want children to see him. The ex-Freiburger (2015 to 2023), which has now gone into football pension, added with a smile with regard to his career: “It did not break off. No matter whether national team, Bayern Munich or anywhere else.” Exactly the same is an even active football star: Wojciech Szczęsny.
The goalkeeper of FC Barcelona, who played seven league missions this season, explained to the Spanish newspaper “Mundo Deportivo” last autumn: “They are things that I do not change in my private life. Nobody is concerned. And like Petersen, he used to have an edition: “I don’t do this in front of children because I don’t want to be a bad influence.”
In addition, the 34-year-old, who also stood against Atlético between the posts in the spectacular 4-2 victory on Sunday evening, added: “Sometimes someone takes a photo of me how I hide behind the trees where I can’t see them. This is not due to myself. I try to hide it and not show it to the people.” However, he did not want to change and emphasized: “I am how I am.”
Wojciech Szczęsny actually ended his career at Juventus Turin in August 2024. But in October the Spanish club around coach Hansi Flick got him out of retirement. Since then, the Pole has played 16 games.
Previously, the goalkeeper stood in his career for FC Arsenal in the Premier League between the posts, played 181 games. Szczęsny also made 252 games for Juventus Turin in the period from 2017 to 2014.