Professional football is now defined by nutrition plans, sleep schedules and carefully monitored recovery programmes. Against that background, the sight of a Premier League player holding a cigarette tends to provoke a disproportionate amount of attention.
A photograph taken on holiday can become front-page news, while one cigarette outside a nightclub may follow a player for years. Some footballers have admitted smoking regularly, others described isolated incidents, and a few insisted they were only holding a cigarette or attempting to look cool.
Here are some of the best-known smoking stories from the Premier League era.
Wojciech Szczesny
Few Premier League smoking incidents attracted as much attention as the one involving former Arsenal goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny.
Szczesny was reportedly caught smoking in the showers after Arsenal’s 2-0 defeat at Southampton on New Year’s Day in 2015. Smoking inside the stadium represented a breach of club rules, and reports claimed Arsenal fined him £20,000. He subsequently lost his starting position to David Ospina.
The goalkeeper has since spoken far more openly about smoking than most professional athletes. In 2026, he described nicotine as an addiction and a personal weakness, while making clear that he would never recommend smoking to other people.
That candour makes Szczesny unusual. Most players photographed smoking either apologise or attempt to minimise the incident. Szczesny has instead acknowledged the contradiction between his habit and the standards normally expected of an elite footballer.
Jack Wilshere
Jack Wilshere became one of the most frequently discussed smokers in English football after being photographed with cigarettes on several occasions.
The first major controversy arrived in 2013, when he was pictured smoking outside a London nightclub. Arsène Wenger publicly expressed his disapproval, arguing that footballers had a responsibility to set an example.
Wilshere was photographed again during a holiday in Las Vegas in 2014. He later said he did not want his children to grow up believing that it was acceptable for a footballer to smoke.
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