Italian National Football Team bans Call of Duty in Euros preparations

So many professional athletes love a good old-fashioned gaming session; NFL's Patrick Mahomes recently revealed that his preferred career should he never have made it as a quarterback would have been a professional Call of Duty player, and there's no denying that the football community love a bit of EA FC.

But does it actually affect their performance on the pitch?

Well, over in football, the Italian National manager is taking no risks, as he has banned gaming from the camp, especially CoD.

Italian football team bans gaming, especially Call of Duty

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Previously, NFL players were criticised for playing too much CoD, with "evidence" that performances dipped during double XP weekends, although other stars in American Football have tipped their caps to the title for improving bonds and communication that helped win championships.

However, ahead of the European Championships 2024 in football, which collates the 24 best countries in Europe, Italy manager Luciano Spalletti has banned gaming, claiming that the team is here to "win the Euros, not win at Call of Duty".

"I talked about video games because there were things that I didn't like. If modernity is playing PlayStation until four in the morning with a match the next day, then it doesn't work," the Head Coach said, per La Nacion.

"From now on, leave the PlayStations at home and don't bring them anymore. You come to the Nazionale to win the Eurocup, not to win at Call of Duty."

Italy team forced to do homework over relaxing on Call of Duty

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As the reigning Euros champions, painstakingly beating England in the final, Italy will still have a point to prove after they failed to qualify for the World Cup two years ago, and Spatelli has now demanded that players will not bring PlayStations to the camp as homework will be awaiting them.

"From now on they leave the Playstations at home and no longer bring them. I'll invent a little game for him to think about to distract himself at night. They come to me and I give them homework to do in the evening if the daytime homework wasn't enough," he continued, per Alfredo Pedulla.

In this timeframe, Portugal's Diogo Jota will still likely be slamming kids on EA FC 24, while the French national team can all stand in solidarity of missing Paul Pogba by using his in-game skin to drop into Warzone.