Football Italia: Napoli Institutes Sex Ban For Players

While it is assumed that to become a professional athlete, many sacrifices must be made along the way, who knew that some players had to sacrifice a key aspect of their personal lives? Consider Italian football, or soccer for those of us in the states. Reports are saying that Napoli’s club doctor has instituted a player ban on sex, claiming that players who avoid copulation also avoid injury.

“Avoiding sexual activity for two days before a game is fundamental to prevent muscular strains, contractions or inflammations,” Professor Alfonso De Nicola told Corriere del Mezzogiorno, according to Fox Sports.

“It is the rule for our squad. There is also a specific work done by my staff and the fitness coaches which is aimed more at prevention than cure. The players must be praised for the professional approach they take in their private lives too. They must always continue certain exercises at home that are taught in the training camp.”

We’re not going to speculate as to what kind of acrobatic sex a football player must partake in to become injured in such a way that it affects, ahem, performance. However, the strategy appears to be paying off, notes The Mirror. Napoli only had 50 injuries that prevented players from participating in official games last season. To put this in perspective, other leading Italian clubs like Milan had 260 injuries, Internazionale had 188, and Roma had 184. Whether or not a majority of those injuries were sex-related, we do not know, but the sex ban seems to be the only major difference in injury statistics.

The Napoli sex ban seems a bit far-fetched, but perhaps it has roots in a story from earlier this year when Milan’s Kevin-Prince Boateng was injured. His girlfriend claimed that his injury was the result of an unusually active sex life, reports Mirror Football.