You have probably seen the scene: a player arriving at the stadium with a thermos under his arm and a gourd in his hand. In pre-match photos, in dressing rooms, on team buses. For a few years now mate has been everywhere in football, to the point that many people in Europe discovered the drink this way, having never come across it before.
It is neither a passing trend nor a sponsored product. It is a centuries-old tradition that simply arrived in Europe in the luggage of South American players.
Here is the story, and what you should know if you want to try it.
A tradition that arrived through the dressing rooms
In Argentina and Uruguay, mate is not a drink you discover as an adult. It is something you see being passed around at home from childhood, every day, across every social class. A player growing up in Buenos Aires or Montevideo drinks mate long before signing his first professional contract.
When those players moved to Europe, they brought their gourd, their bombilla and their thermos with them. And since mate is shared, teammates tasted it. Some got hooked. The chain formed from dressing room to dressing room, with no marketing campaign, just contact.
The Spanish Basque Country played a particular role in this story. The region has a long-standing mate tradition, inherited from the waves of Basque emigration to the Río de la Plata in the 19th century. Many families came back with the habit, and it never disappeared.
Antoine Griezmann's role in France
In France, the popularisation of mate owes a lot to one player: Antoine Griezmann, who came through the academy at Real Sociedad in San Sebastián, in the heart of the Spanish Basque Country. That is where he picked up the habit, in an environment where mate is part of everyday life.
His consumption became visible in the media, particularly around the 2018 World Cup, and many people in France heard about mate for the first time then. Since then the drink has spread well beyond football, but that is how it entered French popular culture.
Worth noting that Griezmann is not an isolated case: several European and South American players in Spain, Italy and England drink it regularly, and the Argentinian and Uruguayan national squads are heavy consumers.
Why athletes like this drink
Beyond tradition, there are concrete reasons why mate found its place in the sporting world.
More gradual energy than coffee. Mate contains caffeine, but combined with theobromine, the same molecule found in cocoa. Many drinkers describe a steadier, less jittery effect than coffee. That is welcome when you need to stay focused over a long stretch.
A slow hydration ritual. You do not drink a mate in one go. You pour hot water over the same yerba several times, over thirty minutes or more. It is a way of drinking regularly, in small amounts, spread out over time.
An alternative to sugary drinks. Plain mate contains no sugar and no additives. For anyone looking for a lift without reaching for an energy drink, it is a simple option.
A word of honesty here: mate is not a performance product and has nothing to do with a sports supplement. If you want the detail of what science actually says, and above all what it does not say, I wrote a full article on the subject. There are also precautions worth knowing, particularly during pregnancy, with high blood pressure, or when on medication.
Mate is above all a sharing ritual
This is what dressing room footage shows best: mate circulates. One gourd, one bombilla, and everyone drinks in turn while the person preparing it, the cebador, pours the water.
Within a group, that creates something. A shared pause, a conversation that settles in, a collective routine. Many expatriate players say mate is what lets them recreate a piece of home in a foreign dressing room.
That is also why mate spreads so well: nobody sells you a mate, someone offers you one.
Want to try? Where to start
If this article made you curious, here is the essential to avoid ruining your first experience.
Choose a mild yerba to start. An Argentinian one with stems, like Playadito or Amanda Suave. If you are sensitive to bitterness, the CBSé range, with its guaraná, ginger or berry versions, is a very accessible entry point. Avoid intense Uruguayan yerbas like Canarias for a first attempt, they are excellent but far too strong when starting out.
You need three things: a gourd, a bombilla and yerba. A complete kit saves you from asking questions at the beginning.
A thermos changes everything. It is what keeps the water at the right temperature throughout the session, and that is exactly why players always have one with them.
The two mistakes to avoid
Boiling water. This is mistake number one. Mate is prepared between 70 and 80 degrees, meaning just before boiling. With boiling water you burn the yerba and get an unpleasant bitterness even with an excellent product.
Rushing it. Mate is not an espresso. It is a drink that takes time, refilled several times over. If you do not have thirty minutes ahead of you, it is not the right moment.
To go further
And if you want to explore the selection, take a look at the yerbas and the kits, imported directly from Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil.
Enjoy your mate.
— Luciano, Sol del Este
Why Do Footballers Drink Yerba Mate? The Story Behind the Gourd
You have probably seen the scene: a player arriving at the stadium with a thermos under his arm and a gourd in his hand. In pre-match photos, in dressing rooms, on team buses. For a few years now mate has been everywhere in football, to the point that many people in Europe discovered the drink this way, having never come across it before.
It is neither a passing trend nor a sponsored product. It is a centuries-old tradition that simply arrived in Europe in the luggage of South American players.
Here is the story, and what you should know if you want to try it.
A tradition that arrived through the dressing rooms
In Argentina and Uruguay, mate is not a drink you discover as an adult. It is something you see being passed around at home from childhood, every day, across every social class. A player growing up in Buenos Aires or Montevideo drinks mate long before signing his first professional contract.
When those players moved to Europe, they brought their gourd, their bombilla and their thermos with them. And since mate is shared, teammates tasted it. Some got hooked. The chain formed from dressing room to dressing room, with no marketing campaign, just contact.
The Spanish Basque Country played a particular role in this story. The region has a long-standing mate tradition, inherited from the waves of Basque emigration to the Río de la Plata in the 19th century. Many families came back with the habit, and it never disappeared.
Antoine Griezmann's role in France
In France, the popularisation of mate owes a lot to one player: Antoine Griezmann, who came through the academy at Real Sociedad in San Sebastián, in the heart of the Spanish Basque Country. That is where he picked up the habit, in an environment where mate is part of everyday life.
His consumption became visible in the media, particularly around the 2018 World Cup, and many people in France heard about mate for the first time then. Since then the drink has spread well beyond football, but that is how it entered French popular culture.
Worth noting that Griezmann is not an isolated case: several European and South American players in Spain, Italy and England drink it regularly, and the Argentinian and Uruguayan national squads are heavy consumers.
Why athletes like this drink
Beyond tradition, there are concrete reasons why mate found its place in the sporting world.
More gradual energy than coffee. Mate contains caffeine, but combined with theobromine, the same molecule found in cocoa. Many drinkers describe a steadier, less jittery effect than coffee. That is welcome when you need to stay focused over a long stretch.
A slow hydration ritual. You do not drink a mate in one go. You pour hot water over the same yerba several times, over thirty minutes or more. It is a way of drinking regularly, in small amounts, spread out over time.
An alternative to sugary drinks. Plain mate contains no sugar and no additives. For anyone looking for a lift without reaching for an energy drink, it is a simple option.
A word of honesty here: mate is not a performance product and has nothing to do with a sports supplement. If you want the detail of what science actually says, and above all what it does not say, I wrote a full article on the subject. There are also precautions worth knowing, particularly during pregnancy, with high blood pressure, or when on medication.
Mate is above all a sharing ritual
This is what dressing room footage shows best: mate circulates. One gourd, one bombilla, and everyone drinks in turn while the person preparing it, the cebador, pours the water.
Within a group, that creates something. A shared pause, a conversation that settles in, a collective routine. Many expatriate players say mate is what lets them recreate a piece of home in a foreign dressing room.
That is also why mate spreads so well: nobody sells you a mate, someone offers you one.
Want to try? Where to start
If this article made you curious, here is the essential to avoid ruining your first experience.
Choose a mild yerba to start. An Argentinian one with stems, like Playadito or Amanda Suave. If you are sensitive to bitterness, the CBSé range, with its guaraná, ginger or berry versions, is a very accessible entry point. Avoid intense Uruguayan yerbas like Canarias for a first attempt, they are excellent but far too strong when starting out.
You need three things: a gourd, a bombilla and yerba. A complete kit saves you from asking questions at the beginning.
A thermos changes everything. It is what keeps the water at the right temperature throughout the session, and that is exactly why players always have one with them.
The two mistakes to avoid
Boiling water. This is mistake number one. Mate is prepared between 70 and 80 degrees, meaning just before boiling. With boiling water you burn the yerba and get an unpleasant bitterness even with an excellent product.
Rushing it. Mate is not an espresso. It is a drink that takes time, refilled several times over. If you do not have thirty minutes ahead of you, it is not the right moment.
To go further
And if you want to explore the selection, take a look at the yerbas and the kits, imported directly from Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil.
Enjoy your mate.
— Luciano, Sol del Este