Portuguese football player Cristiano Ronaldo is known for his discipline on and off the field, and food occupies a central place in this routine. The Portuguese international has avoided sugar and ultra-processed foods for several years, maintaining a diet based on regular meals, lean protein, fish, vegetables and better quality carbohydrates.
But Ronaldo is not the only case. From Lionel Messi to Robert Lewandowski and Erling Haaland, the nutrition of football’s greats has become an increasingly important part of fitness. According to , a Brazilian current affairs website, Brazilian chef Cândida Batista, who has lived in Europe for 20 years and works in a restaurant selected by the Michelin Guide, in Vienna, analyzed some of the stars’ most curious eating habits.
Ronaldo and six meals a day
Cristiano Ronaldo is perhaps the most popular example of dietary strictness in modern football. According to O Globo, the player has already revealed that he usually divides his food into up to six smaller meals throughout the day. The idea is to maintain stable energy, avoid major falls and provide the body with the nutrients it needs to train, recover and compete.
The basis of the Portuguese diet is lean proteins, vegetables and whole carbohydrates. Fish appears frequently in his routine and there is a traditional Portuguese dish that continues to be associated with his preferences: cod à Brás.
Still, the most repeated detail over the years is Cristiano Ronaldo’s relationship with sugar. Former chefs linked to the player’s routine reported that the attacker avoids sugar and ultra-processed foods, even outside the most intense phases of the season.
“Eat regularly”
Ronaldo’s dietary discipline is not limited to food choices. The player has already defended the importance of eating regularly, a phrase that sums up his approach to nutrition. Instead of eating very heavy and spaced meals, the idea is to better distribute your intake throughout the day.
This type of routine requires planning. For an elite athlete, each meal is designed according to training, rest, muscle recovery and competitive calendar. This is why food is no longer seen as just an aesthetic issue. In today’s football, eating well has also become a performance tool.
Messi also changed his diet
Lionel Messi has had a different relationship with food throughout his career. The Argentine has already admitted that, in a previous phase, he consumed soft drinks and foods that were less suitable for an elite athlete. Later, he changed his eating routine, opting for lighter meals, vegetables, olive oil and simpler options.
According to O Globo, this transformation took place with the support of Italian nutritionist Giuliano Poser, who worked with Messi at an important stage in his career. The change helped reinforce an increasingly clear trend in football: the best players don’t just take care of ball training or physical condition. They also adjust the plate to the objective of prolonging their career and maintaining performance at the highest level.
Dessert before the main course
Robert Lewandowski makes this list due to an unusual habit. The Polish striker has already said that he prefers to eat dessert before the main course, believing that this helps with the digestion of sweets. The practice is unusual and is not part of the most common recommendations in sport, but it has become a curiosity associated with your routine.
Lewandowski is, nevertheless, known for very careful physical preparation. The attacker’s competitive longevity shows how nutrition, training and recovery began to be treated as parts of the same strategy. In elite football, small choices repeated over years can have a significant impact on a player’s consistency.
Haaland bovine liver
Erling Haaland follows a more extreme line and has habits that have attracted attention outside the world of football. The Norwegian striker has already revealed that he consumes beef liver and heart within a diet that can be around six thousand calories a day. “You don’t eat that, but I care about taking care of my body,” said Haaland in a documentary about her own routine, cited by O Globo.
The choice generated curiosity as it deviated from the most common eating pattern among athletes. Still, it fits into an approach focused on nutritional density, recovery and the high physical demand of a player with Haaland’s profile. To sustain speed, strength and explosiveness for a long season, the attacker’s energy consumption is naturally high.
Private chefs gain ground
Star players’ nutrition no longer depends solely on what is served at club training centers. According to Cândida Batista, many European players started to set up private teams to control their diet outside the club context. Private chefs prepare menus adapted to the season, training volume, muscle recovery and even rest periods.
One of the best-known names in this universe is Jonny Marsh, a chef who rose to prominence by creating personalized menus for Premier League athletes. This professionalization shows how the kitchen became part of the players’ support structure, alongside physical trainers, physiotherapists, nutritionists and performance analysts.
The kitchen as part of training
For Cândida Batista, modern football has completely changed the way athletes look at food. “Today, many players treat nutrition almost as part of training,” said the chef when analyzing these routines. The idea summarizes the transformation of recent years: the diet is no longer a secondary detail and has become part of the invisible preparation of the stars.
The chef herself concludes that “the kitchen of these athletes has almost become an extension of the gym”. In the end, the eating habits of Cristiano Ronaldo, Messi, Lewandowski and Haaland show that the difference in elite football is not just talent. It also lies in daily discipline, recovery, rest and the way each player organizes what they put on the plate.
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