After playing football for 11 months of the year, players in the professional game just want to blow off steam. Early nights, good nutrition, and intense training go out of the window – they want to escape the pressure that is on their shoulders.
Like many who get granted their annual leave, a lot of stars will spend quality time with their families, who they have spent many a day away from during the season.
The locations of their holidays are slightly more glamorous than where the average Joe gets to go, with Dubai, Barbados, and Marbella among the popular destinations for footballers who enjoy family time.
For players jetting to those trio of locations, it’s time to kick their feet up, relax, and get a tan.
However, not all players chase tranquility. After working as hard as they do for so long, and with how disciplined they have to be to stay in tip-top chase, many want to let loose.
Where do they go to do that? Well, where better than Ibiza? It’s the party capital of the world. And the one place that they seem to go more than anywhere else is Ocean Beach, owned by Wayne Lineker.
Wayne Lineker has built a clubbing empire in Ibiza through his famous spot Ocean Beach
The club is known to attract a whole host of celebrities, which inludes Premier League footballers
Jude Bellingham (centre) and his brother Jobe (left) were seen partying at O Beach this week
Launched by the brother of now former Match of the Day presenter, Gary – also a national treasure – in 2012, O Beach is a hot spot for the game’s biggest stars, as well as a whole raft of other celebrities.
‘In June, it’s like a PFA meeting in Ocean. It’s that many of them. It’s good fun,’ Lineker told talkSPORT last week.
Even Liverpool boss Arne Slot was seen living it up there earlier this month, following the Reds’ Premier League triumph. The season hadn’t even finished at that point, but the partying at Ocean Beach was in full flow.
Slot could be seen getting a kiss on the cheeky from Lineker – no, not Gary – before he went behind the DJ decks as Queen’s ‘We Are the Champions’ blared out.
It was originally thought that the Dutchman opted to go to Ibiza on his own, while his Liverpool squad had a big bash in Dubai. However, that was not the case.
‘Who did we have last week?’ Lineker continued. ‘Harvey Elliott was in the other day. I ended up in Pacha with Elliott at six o’clock on Sunday morning.’
Jude Bellingham is the latest high-profile footballer to have been welcomed to the venue with open arms by Wayne. The Real Madrid star, 21, chose to celebrate his brother Jobe’s promotion to the Premier League with Sunderland.
English football’s golden boy was all smiles as he enjoyed several beverages with his pals, and Lineker, as they sat in an exclusive VIP area.
Slot broke into celebration while behind the decks after Liverpool’s Premier League triumph
Lineker is known for partying his way through the summer with hundreds of guests each day
But what is it about O Beach that entices so many stars? Every year, Wayne can be seen partying with the next big name in football, or even music. The turnover of top stars in the club is just remarkable.
The 63-year-old’s path has been very different from older brother Gary’s from an early age. While one was doing big things with the ball at his feet, the other was dropping out of school at 14 to pursue a career in business.
In 1986, Wayne opened his first bar as he looked to break into the hospitality scene. It was the same year in which Gary won the Golden Boot award at the World Cup in Mexico, so he named the venue in Tenerife, Lineker’s Bar.
The bar was a huge success, and Lineker’s reputation in the industry grew rapidly, taking him to Marbella, and then Ibiza in 2008.
Four years later, Ocean Beach was opened, and it has only grown in popularity with each passing year. Lineker himself regards it as ‘Adult Disneyland’, as celebrities and party-goers flock in their thousands to get a glimpse of the silver fox.
‘I compare it to Mickey Mouse at Disneyland when he comes out and everyone runs to get a picture,” Lineker once quipped. ‘But I’m the Mickey Mouse of adult Disneyland.
‘I literally have to plan my day around it because it’s got so intense, 500-600 pictures a day.’
It’s true, snaps of Lineker and stars flood timelines on the daily. You can always see him posing with a celebrity at this time of year, usually Jack Grealish.
Jack Grealish is one of the many footballers who travels to O Beach to enjoy his time away from the game
Lineker admitted that ‘it’s like a parade’ when Irish UFC star Conor McGregor arrives at the club
Grealish is a regular at Ocean Beach with Lineker once joking about the prospect of a four-week loan deal for the Manchester City man at his beach club, following his omission from the England Euro 2024 squad.
Believe it or not, though, Grealish is not believed to be the biggest spender at Lineker’s party empire. In fact, it’s not a footballer at all.
Controversial mixed martial artist Conor McGregor and YouTuber-turned-boxer KSI are the individuals who splashed the most cash, with Lineker opening up on what it was like to host the pair.
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‘I had sorted everything out for KSI. Made sure he was on the owner’s table – it’s the best spot,’ he told the Let Me Land podcast last year.
‘And, because they’ve got the boat with 100 bottles of champagne on, that was all going to the table. They did it right. But yeah, KSI was probably, as far as celebrities go, the biggest party.
‘We have other people that just go crazy and spend a lot of money. Obviously, Conor McGregor… he parties! When he walks in it’s just a parade. He’s got all his security with him.’
It is believed that KSI spent a whopping £51,000 on 600 bottles of champagne during his trip to Ocean Beach in June 2023. Don’t scratch your eyes, that is a real sentence.
Meanwhile, McGregor made his infamous visit in 2022 for his 34th birthday alongside family and friends, with the Irishman even getting into an argument with a fellow partygoer who threw a hat at him.
Lineker calls his club the ‘adult Disneyland’ and he is ‘Mickey Mouse’ as he takes 500-600 snaps per day
Maya Jama is one of the many celebs who love sthe spot, and maybe she will return with new footballer boyfriend Ruben Dias
In 2020, former Birmingham defender Jonathan Hutchinson sued Lineker’s club after breaking his neck in the pool
Not all celebrities have had positive experiences, mind.
Jonathan Hutchinson – a former Birmingham City footballer – was paralysed after breaking his neck following a dive into the Ocean Beach swimming pool back in 2016.
The ex-pro, who played in the Blues backline during the Premier League 2001-02 season, was found floating in a pool, unmoved, before being rushed to hospital where it was discovered that he had sustained devastating spinal injuries.
The now 43-year-old now requires 24-hour care, and in 2020 decided to take legal action against the club, suing Lineker for £8.5million in damages.
Lineker’s reputation remains unblemished in the celebrity party scene, however, and Bellingham’s recent trip to his club signals the start of a wave of footballers who will hit Ibiza over the summer.
He may even get another visit from Love Island presenter Maya Jama – who has been on numerous occasions in the past – due to her relationship with City star Ruben Dias.
What we know for certain is that O Beach will be packed to the brim with celebrities once again this year – it always is.
