Can Footballers Use the Toilet During a Game?

Can Footballers Use the Toilet During a Game?

Yes, footballers can use the toilet during a game. Although leaving the field of play during a match is technically a bookable offence, the officials would treat this situation as a need to remedy an equipment or uniform problem, allowing the player to leave the match.

What Are the Official Rules for Using the Toilet During a Game?

Official Rules for Leaving the Pitch to Use the Toilet

So what are the official rules for using the toilet during a football match? Well, the Laws of the Game state that a player leaving the playing field during a match is a bookable offence. This is regarding players leaving the field as an unsporting departure to put an opponent offside, or to quit the game in an unsporting manner.

A player leaving the pitch to use the toilet would be treated in the same way as the need to remedy a uniform or equipment problem. This means that the officials would allow the player to leave the pitch without booking them.

Following their absence from the field, a player would need to report their return to the referee or one of the other officials, as well as getting their equipment checked, including their boots. Once checked, the referee will let the player re-enter the play as early as possible, even during play, as long as it doesn’t cause an unfair disadvantage for their opponents.

Official Rules for Going to the Toilet on the Pitch

In the worst case scenario, i.e. if a player were to relieve themselves on the field of play, this would be deemed as highly unsporting behaviour. Furthermore, this would cause a nuisance and would be unpleasant for other players and spectators in the ground.

If this offence were to be committed, there’s a chance that the player would be cautioned for unsporting behaviour, unless the event was severely involuntary i.e. due to illness.

Why Do Footballers Need the Toilet During a Game?

There are a couple of reasons why a footballer might need to use the toilet during a football match. Some of these reasons can’t be helped, and there have been instances where they’ve led to footballers going to the toilet on the pitch.

Illness

Sometimes footballers will play matches carrying an illness. If the player is vital for their team, it’s hard to leave them out, so they’ll often try to play through illness. This might mean that it’s harder to stop themselves needing the toilet during 90 minutes.

Nerves

Another reason why footballers might need to go to the toilet during the game is due to feeling nervous. Big football matches can provoke lots of nervous energy for the players before and during the game.

This might mean that a football player might experience unexpected urges to use the toilet whilst the game is in procession. This is all dependent on how experienced the player is and how well they manage their nerves before big matches.

Opportunities for Footballers to Use the Toilet

Prematch

The most obvious opportunity for footballers to use the toilet is before a match starts. Players will have plenty of time when they arrive at the ground to use the facilities, and will have opportunities before and after they complete their warm-up session too.

This is the time when players will be taking on a lot of liquid, so they’ll have to manage this period well in order to not take on too many liquids before the match begins.

Half-time

Another opportunity for footballers to use the toilet during a match is in the half-time interval. Each football match is made up of two 45 minute halves (plus additional injury time), and after the first half, players will have a 15-minute window to use the facilities if they need to.

Full-time

Once both halves have finished, footballers can use the toilet at full time. If they didn’t use the facilities during half-time, they may have had to wait for over 2 hours to do so (assuming 5 minutes injury time has been added for both halves).

Examples of Footballers Relieving Themselves On the Pitch

Gary Lineker

Arguably the most famous case of a footballer relieving themselves on the pitch is Englishman Gary Lineker. He was suffering with diarrhoea before the opening match of the 1990 Italian World Cup against the Republic of Ireland.

He opened the scoring in the 9th minute and made it through the first half unscathed. During the second half, Lineker went for the ball and the worst happened. Clearly an awkward position, he asked teammate Gary Stevens, “What do I do?”. The player was not booked for the incident.

The striker managed to make it to the 83rd minute before being substituted for Steve Bull. Considering the incident that had taken place, it’s impressive that was able to play as many minutes as he did. England drew the match 1-1.

Brazilian Ronaldo

Ronaldo Nazário, aka Brazilian Ronaldo, absolutely stole the show at the 1996 Olympic Games. During their Group D match against Hungary, Ronaldo needed the toilet during the second half.

The Brazilians took the lead however Hungary equalised, and during their celebrations, Ronaldo covered himself up with the football whilst sat in the middle of the pitch.

It turns out he was having a wee, and nobody even noticed. In the press conference following the game, he admitted what he had done, to everyone’s surprise. He certainly fooled everyone in the stadium that day.

Jens Lehmann

The first goalkeeper in our list is Jens Lehmann. For goalkeepers, it must be tougher for them to hold their urges as they spend a lot of time standing around compared to outfield players.

Whilst playing for Stuttgart in the Champions League, Lehmann jumped over the advertising hoardings, crouched down and had a quick wee. Although this was right in front of a lot of fans, he was back on the pitch instantly.

He was that quick that the officials didn’t even notice. After the match, Stuttgart’s Director of Football stated “I thought he handled it very expertly, it was a tricky situation”. He avoided any kind of booking and received praise instead, impressive stuff.

Examples of Footballers Leaving the Pitch to Use the Toilet

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

During Freddie Ljungberg’s brief stint of management at Arsenal, forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had to leave the pitch to use the toilet. At the time, Arsenal were trailing 2-1 against Brighton with just 5 minutes to go, so you could say that Aubameyang didn’t choose the best time to leave the pitch.

Manager Ljungberg said, “He ran off and came back two or three minutes later. If you feel bad you feel bad, it’s nothing you can change.”

The Gabon international return to the field with a couple of minutes left of the match. Arsenal ended up losing the game 2-1.

Sergio Ramos

During a La Liga match in 2018, Real Madrid defender Sergio Ramos had an accident on the pitch. He left his side with 10 men for around 5 minutes while he went to the changing room to change his pants.

Fans at the time thought that Ramos was leaving the pitch with an injury, when in fact he was running really well. He discretely let the officials know before he left the pitch. Receiving no caution, Ramos returned to the pitch and Madrid went on to win their match against Eibar 2-1.

Madrid’s manager at the time Zinedine Zidane said, “Ramos s*** himself a bit, so he went to the bathroom for a moment.”

Eric Dier

Tottenham Hotspur defender Eric Dier sprinted down the tunnel during their match against Chelsea in the 2020 Carabao Cup. Manager José Mourinho wasn’t too impressed and ran after him, much to the confusion of the fans in the stadium. One of Dier’s teammates tried to waste time by tying their shoelaces while he was off the pitch.

Fans suspected that something serious may have happened, however it turns out Dier was just going to the changing rooms to use the toilet. After the match he said “Jose wasn’t happy, but there was nothing I could do about it, nature was calling.”

Luckily, Tottenham won the match on penalties, and Mourinho was seen laughing about the incident in the post match press conference. Watch it all unfold in the following video: