5 things you need to know about World Cup sex

It's one of the most important decisions a World Cup coach can make. Will the players be allowed to have sex during the tournament? Some opt for celibacy, while others decide to be a little more, uh, loose with the rules. 

Here are five things you need to know about the World Cup and the sex that will (or won't) be happening. 

Science says it doesn't really make a difference

The ancient Greeks were confident that men needed to stay celibate before entering the arena because they thought the male energy used during sex needed to be conserved. That is not exactly how it works, but research shows that getting busy the night before will not single-handedly take down a World Cup team. 

Participants in a 1995 study were asked to have sex 12 hours before a treadmill test and the results indicated that the extra activity did not make a major difference in the subject's performance. 

Apparently, these rules set by certain managers are more about ensuring that players try to avoid wild parties/excess drinking than it is a belief that too much sex will make them tired on the pitch. 

"It comes down to coaches not trusting the little devils," Pamela Peeke, a spokeswoman for the American College of Sports Medicine, who spoke to The Associated Press.

But some teams have a sex ban

Mexico is really not messing around, but they do need all the help they can get. Manager Miguel Herrera did not outright ban sex, but he expects the team to act like professionals and avoid it. 

"I am thinking about football and I hope that the boys are thinking about football because nobody has died from practicing abstinence for 40 days," he said.

"Some people are virgins until marriage and they are 20 or 25 years old. So, please, nobody will die for 40 days."

They also can't have beef. Mexico apparently believes the secret to success this year involves sucking all the joy from life (although the meat ban is more about the possibility of clenbuterol in tainted beef).  

Germany and Spain typically don't let their players sex before matches, while Brazil is against that fancy acrobatic stuff. Bosnia-Herzegovina is not a big fan either, but we will get into that later.

The U.S. is feeling pretty lax

Jurgen Klinsmann is the cool dad at the World Cup, in case you didn't know. He is totally fine with you getting some, bro. The U.S. coach doesn't think a little you know what will ruin his team's chances in the tournament.

“I think we are very casual in the way we approach things. Their families can come pretty much any time. They will be at the games, they can come by at the hotel, we will have barbecues together,” Klinsmann he said to Fusion's The Soccer Gods, via The Washington Post. “Every nation is different. I’ve played in different countries where, you know, you didn’t see your girlfriend or your wife for two months. That was more the Italian background when I played in Italy. So I respect the Mexican approach because it’s more their culture at that moment." 

Bosnia-Herzegovina's players know how to keep busy

Bosnia-Herzegovina is part of the sex ban, but good news! They have a backup plan. Edin Dzeko might need a hand. 

"There will be no sex in Brazil," manager Safet Susic told The Daily Star.

"They can find another solution, they can even masturbate if they want. I am not interested what the other coaches do, this is not a holiday trip, we are there to play football at the World Cup."

Croatian men would rather watch football than have sex

Yes, according to a really scientific poll, Croatian men would rather watch a World Cup game/avoid multitasking than have sex. 24Sata out of Zagreb (and via FOXSports) cited a Ipsos Puls agency poll that revealed nine out of ten Croatian men would prefer to go without sex than miss a televised World Cup game. 

A third of respondents also reportedly said they owned two televisions just to avoid any potential conflicts when it came to watching the action from Brazil. If they were forced to choose between only watching the World Cup or having sex, forty percent said they would give up sex for the month.