Is it necessary to love football to play? Who has admitted to not liking it or not watching it at all?

For fans who live football and are absolutely everything to it, it is unimaginable that their darlings on the pitch would be much less interested in the game. Still, it’s happening.

To reach football’s pinnacle, you need to be absolutely passionate about the game and love it with everything you’ve got. That’s what most fans and players think, but for some it doesn’t quite hold true.

Ben White

The Arsenal stopper, who arrived from Brighton for £50million in the summer, admitted in an interview with Sky Sports that he didn’t watch football at all when he was growing up and that he doesn’t even know who club icon Patrick Vieira is properly.

“No, I never watched football when I was younger, I don’t watch it now. I just loved playing it, I always played it – I never watched it. So I don’t know much about the older generations. I know Vieira was a very good player. But I don’t know any details. I’m quite busy, I’m always doing something. I wouldn’t just sit down and watch a game,” White told Sky Sports.

Ronaldinho

This name will surprise all football fans. Ronaldinho is arguably the most technical player of all time, he always enjoyed the game with a smile on his face, for everyone the Brazilian was the epitome of the love of football. But the player himself doesn’t have it thrown that way.

“I don’t like watching football, I just like playing it. I can’t watch TV for 90 minutes, I can’t stand it. The most I’ll watch is a haircut,” the Brazilian icon told The Sun in 2018.

Dani Alves

The player with the most trophies in history returns to Barcelona at the age of 38. It would seem that he lives football, but that is not the case. And he’s certainly not planning to pursue it after his career.

“I hate what surrounds football. I live in this world, but I don’t belong in it. When I’m done with football, I’ll take my backpack and travel the world. It will be inevitable to watch football, but I will definitely not live in it,” Alves told O’Globo.

Gareth Bale

This name won’t surprise anyone too much. There is a long-standing joke among fans that Bale would rather be on a golf course than a football one. And it’s not far from the truth.

“I don’t really watch much football. I’d rather watch golf, to be honest,” the Welsh footballer admitted in an interview with ESPN in 2018.

Marc-Andre ter Stegen

One of football’s best goalkeepers who catches for Barcelona has admitted that his knowledge of football is woeful.

“People laugh when I tell them I have no idea about football. I don’t watch football unless it’s a good game or my friend is playing. Sometimes someone asks me the name of a player and I have no idea. In La Liga, it happens to me with names. I don’t know the players’ names. It’s only when they show me a video that I remember,” ter Stegen told the Daily Mail.

Carlos Tévez

If Gareth Bale finally learned Spanish after 6 years in Madrid, he would have a very good friend. Carlos Tévez shares his love of golf at the expense of football.

“If Real Madrid are playing Barcelona and there’s a golf tournament on the other channel, I’d rather watch golf. I don’t watch football on TV at all. I don’t like football, I’ve never been a fan of football, I just like to play it with a ball at my feet,” Tévez admitted to Marca newspaper in 2018.

Benoit Assou-Ekotto

I’m sure there are a lot of players who play football just for the money. But few of them would admit it publicly. One of them is former Tottenham and Cameroon star Benoit Assou-Ekotto.

“When I come to England, where I don’t know anybody and I don’t speak English… Why did I come here? For work. A career is only for 10-15 years. It’s just a job. Yes, a very good job and I’m not saying I hate football, but it’s not my passion.

“I arrive at 10:30 in the morning for training and I’m a professional. I finish at 1 and then I’m no longer a footballer. When I’m at work, I do it 100%. But then I’m like a tourist in London. I take my Oyster card and I go on the tube. Then I eat somewhere,” Assou-Ekotto told The Guardian.

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