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What are professional footballers tucking into at Christmas?

  

From :- BBC News   

By :- Srosh Khanand
Naomi de Souza

Edited by :- Amal Udawatta

  Handout A piece of red meat on a white plate. It is sat beside a potatoe dish. There are dollops of sauce beside the pieces of food on the plate.

Handout
Tommy Cole works with nutritionists at football clubs to make sure players get the most out of their meals

Many of us have been waiting all year to tuck into our favourite festive treats.

Christmas dinner can look very different for each household - but for professional footballers, it is still a time to stay focused on fitness and recovery for matches.

Private chef Tommy Cole whips up meals for Premier League players from major clubs - including Fulham, Chelsea and Brighton - all year round.

When it comes to the main Christmas meal, he takes a traditional approach, but makes it "a little boujee-r" and healthier.

"With roast potatoes, for example, it's just being careful not to roast them in a crazy amount of fat, whilst still trying to make them nice and crispy," he tells BBC Newsbeat.

"Also things like your fillings, again, just being careful with the amount of fat that you're cooking them in."

Getty Images City mascot Moonbeam in a blue Christmas jumper points to the teams as they walk out at the Etihad during the Premier League match between Manchester City and West Ham. Getty Images
Professional footballers have still got to stay focused on their fitness at Christmas
Handout A piece of meat sits on a white sauce on a blue plate. It's placed next to potato and small pieces of broccoli are placed on the plate alongside some orange purée


He also tries to stick to slightly leaner cuts of meat.

"Turkey's very popular at Christmas so we would use the breast and not quite so much of the dark meat, which tends to be a bit fattier, and then just try and get plenty of veggies," the 33-year-old explains.

Tommy works with nutritionists at the footballers' clubs to make sure they get the most out of their meals.

"We communicate with the players themselves and get their likes, dislikes," he says.

"Then we basically build a menu around that information and try and feed them some really tasty food."

Handout A piece of red meet cooked so it's still pink in the middle sits on top of green leafy vegetables and gravy. On a white plate.Handout

The Christmas period is a particularly busy time for some of his football clients, so he's got to ensure they're getting the fuel they need to stay at the top of their game.

"The guys that are playing games, especially around Christmas, we'll see the fixtures are a bit more frequent," he says.

December is notoriously busy for major clubs, with additional Premier League matches, extra European fixtures and cup competitions like the Carabao Cup and FA Cup.

Clubs like Chelsea and Arsenal are going to be playing more than 15 matches in December and January.

Handout
Handout Tommy is smiling. He has blonde curly hair and is wearing a white top with an apron over it. Handout
Tommy started his chef journey eight years ago
Handout A pink dessert dome is on a black plate surrounded by honeycomb, strawberries and a green pistachios crumb Handout

The relentless football fixtures have been long spoken about by players and managers, who have complained about injuries and the short turnaround between matches.

Due to the increased schedule, Tommy says they will need to be eating more carbohydrates to keep up their energy.

"So more potatoes, pasta, that sort of thing. We're just increasing those in their meals," he says.

He will also try to get plenty of vegetables in to their diets for added nutrients, and for those who aren't the biggest fan, he has some tricks to sneak them in.

"We might make some kind of sauces with vegetables," he says. "So quite a popular and tasty one is making a katsu sauce.

"I make the base of the sauce with carrots, onions, garlic, that sort of thing."

When it comes to helping players' recovery, oily fish, nuts and seeds are top of the menu.

Handout A piece of fish is resting on top of a bed of green vegetables, sweetcorn and noddles. Handout
The chef will try to add plenty of vegetables for added nutrients
Handout Tommy is cooking a piece of meat over the stove in a kitchen. He is holding a utensil and poking the meat. He has blonde hair and wears a black apron.Handout
Tommy admits he didn't initally plan to get into the culinary world

Tommy's cooking videos have racked up millions of views on TikTok, fuelled by a mix of curiosity and fascination into the diets of professional players.

The mystery behind who is he catering for also draws people in - but he tells Newsbeat he is keeping that secret to himself.

He is part of a growing industry dedicated to cooking high-end dinners for the rich and famous.

But Tommy admits he didn't initially plan to get into the culinary world.

"It never was a real big sort of dream or aspiration to be a chef," he says.

"I got into it because I went on a ski season, I just wanted to have a good time and then ended up cooking through that."

Handout Red raspberry cake-like desert in the centre of a stone coloured plate. It is topped with white meringue and white chocolate cream scoop. Handout

After catching the cooking bug, he trained as a chef.

Through his work at luxury chalets and hotels, he cooked for several celebrities and Premier League players, and one thing led to another.

But over his eight years as a chef, Tommy has had some strange requests.

"I have had people request just frankfurters," he says. "Which is the most average thing.

"Obviously you give the players what they want, but it's nice to do slightly fancier stuff."

Matches being played on Boxing Day is a long-standing tradition in English football, but this year only one will be played in the Premier League.

For Boxing Day, Tommy leans into tradition: "It's just going to be bubble and squeak, lots of veggies in there, that good stuff."


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