Christmas means different things to different people and with multinational Chelsea squads now common, there will be a host of different festive traditions being celebrated by our players over the coming days. We catch up with some of our men's and women's team players to find out more...
‘We celebrate on the 24th, so that’s the big difference from here, and with food, there is a hot table and a cold table.
‘We also have a thing in Sweden at 3pm where we all watch the same show: Donald Duck and his friends. It’s on for like 30 or 45 minutes, and you sit and watch that.
'Then another Swedish tradition is that for all of December, there is a show that’s like a Christmas calendar, so each day there’s a new episode and the 24th is the final one, so usually you watch that with your family.
‘I like the Christmas crackers in England! We don’t have that in Sweden and I think it’s fun because you have a question or a little fun game. I even like the bad jokes!
Enzo Fernandez (Argentina)
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'Christmas is really important for me. I remember when I was a child, Father Christmas gave me a football every year. Then one year I got a PlayStation and I could play football on that!
'Traditions from Argentina I liked would be having turron, a sweet treat, and a Russian salad. For religious reasons, some people might not eat meat but, generally speaking, there would be a BBQ. It would be beef ribs mainly, not so much turkey.
'We would meet up with family on the 24th and stay together until 6am the next day. And would then meet up in the local square on the 25th.
'In England, I like going to church and lighting a candle – and playing football! As for the food, I haven't eaten traditional English Christmas dinner yet.
'Last year, my parents and my brothers and sisters came over to England for Christmas which made it easier and helped me get over being away from Argentina for Christmas. This year my parents will be here, too. Generally, the players spend Christmas with their families.'
Sjoeke Nusken (Germany)
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'So, we celebrate on the 24th and not on the 25th in Germany. That's the main day for us when we celebrate with family, my parents and my sisters. We go to church first, then come home together, have dinner, sing together and then do some presents.
'In terms of traditional German food, we have raclette. Everyone has their own to cook on. You can put anything and everything you want on it! It needs a long time, though!
'I like the roast dinner in England so maybe I'll have to try to do that for my family one year.
'The 25th is the time with my mother's side of the family and the 26th is when we spend time with my dad's side. We are spending these days together with our family and enjoying our time together.
'Every Christmas is special. It's a nice time to have with family, especially now I'm far away from home. It's nice to go back to Germany for these days.'
Robert Sanchez (Spain and Poland)
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‘In Spain, there’s no football so you’re with the family all the time, whereas in England, you’re playing on Boxing Day and then getting home as quickly as possible to spend more time with the family.
‘My side of the family is all Spanish and my missus' side is Polish. So there’s not a lot of English traditions in there! But we do a little bit of everything.
'On Christmas Day, we don’t really eat meat. It’s more of a fish day. That’s what they do in Poland and we respect that from my missus' side of the family. We have a lot of soup as well, but that’s about it!
Renato Veiga (Portugal)
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'Christmas was a really important time of year when our family would gather all around.
'Our family would have dinner on 24 December, where we would have Bacalhau, and then we would open our stockings and other presents on the 25th.
'I don't really remember my Christmases in Cyprus. In Morocco it was similar to Portugal where the family would get together on the 24th to eat - the family was together so it didn't really matter where we were.
'In Switzerland, it felt more Christmassy because everything was decorated and there was snow. It looked really beautiful, although I didn’t actually spend Christmas there as I went back to Portugal.
'Last year I came to London with my girlfriend over the New Year period and it was really nice. We did everything you could do in London!
'This year my family and I will still be celebrating with our Portuguese traditions here in London. It will be the first time I've played football over Christmas so let's see how it goes!'