How much carbohydrate should I eat before a match?

Sports-nutrition guidelines suggest 1 to 4 grams of carbohydrate per kilogram of body weight in the 1 to 4 hours before competition, with larger amounts taken earlier to allow digestion. This planner uses about 2 grams per kilogram at the 3-hour pre-match meal for most sports.

Do I need fuel at half-time?

For events over about 60 to 90 minutes, in-game carbohydrate of 30 to 60 grams per hour helps maintain blood glucose and performance. Half-time is the natural window — fast carbohydrate like a gel, banana, or sports drink works well for team sports.

Why does the post-match meal matter so much?

The first hour or two after exercise is when muscle is most receptive to refuelling glycogen and starting repair. Combining about 1 gram of carbohydrate per kilogram with 20 to 40 grams of protein speeds recovery, especially if you compete or train again soon.

Should I try new foods on game day?

Never. Game day is for foods and timing you have already rehearsed in training. New foods, gels, or large fibre loads can cause gut distress at the worst moment. Treat this plan as a template to practise, not a first-time experiment.

Does this cover hydration?

It focuses on carbohydrate and protein timing. Pair it with a hydration strategy — drink to thirst, include electrolytes for longer or hot games, and aim to start the match well hydrated rather than over-drinking just before.

What is the Game Day Nutrition Planner?

Enter your kick-off time, body weight, and sport type to build a game-day nutrition timeline — carbohydrate-loading targets, pre-match meal timing, half-time fuel, and post-match recovery — placed on the clock so you fuel at the right moments. It runs free in your browser on Gera Tools, with nothing uploaded.

Game Day Nutrition Planner

Name: Game Day Nutrition Planner
Creator: Gera Tools
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

What and when you eat on game day shapes how you perform in the final minutes and how fast you recover. This planner places carbohydrate loading, the pre-match meal, half-time fuel, and recovery nutrition on the clock around your kick-off so nothing is left to chance.

How it works

Carbohydrate targets scale with your body weight and the event’s demand:

pre-match meal (~3 h out)  ≈ 2 g carb / kg body weight
top-up (~1 h out)          ≈ 1 g carb / kg (lighter, easy to digest)
in-game / half-time        ≈ 30-60 g carb per playing hour
post-match (within ~1 h)   ≈ 1 g carb / kg + 20-40 g protein

Each window is then anchored to your kick-off time by counting backward (for pre-match fuelling) and forward (for recovery), so you see exact clock times.

Understanding the fuelling windows

The 3-hour pre-match meal

Three hours before kick-off is the ideal window for a proper carbohydrate-rich meal. The goal is to top up liver and muscle glycogen without leaving food in your stomach when the whistle blows. A 70 kg athlete should aim for around 140 g of carbohydrate — think a large bowl of pasta or rice with a lean protein source and minimal fat or fibre (both slow gastric emptying and increase gut discomfort risk under exercise stress).

The 1-hour top-up

An hour out, a smaller carbohydrate hit — roughly 1 g/kg — can top up blood glucose without causing rebound hypoglycaemia in most athletes. Stick to easily digestible options: a banana, white toast with jam, or a sports gel. Some athletes are sensitive to carbohydrate intake right before exercise (the insulin spike lowers blood glucose just as exercise begins); if that is you, move this window to 15–20 minutes before kick-off, when insulin response is blunted by adrenaline.

Half-time fuelling

For matches lasting 60–90 minutes or longer, half-time is an opportunity to maintain blood glucose as liver glycogen depletes. Fast-acting carbohydrate in the 30–60 g range — a couple of gels, a sports drink, a small banana — is enough. Avoid large amounts of food; you have at most 10–15 minutes and another 45 minutes of running ahead. Solid food takes too long to absorb under those conditions.

Post-match recovery

The two hours after full-time are when your muscles are most receptive to glycogen resynthesis. Combining about 1 g carbohydrate per kilogram with 20–40 g of high-quality protein starts the repair process. Chocolate milk, rice with chicken, or a protein shake with a banana are practical options. If you have back-to-back fixtures within 24 hours, front-loading post-match recovery matters considerably more than for weekly competitors.

Sport-specific differences

Different sports place different demands on the energy systems. A 90-minute football (soccer) match is predominantly aerobic but includes repeated high-intensity sprints, making glycogen the primary fuel. A 40-minute basketball game has shorter bursts but higher intensity peaks. Endurance sports like cycling or distance running deplete glycogen more completely, requiring higher pre-event carbohydrate loading. The planner adjusts targets based on the event type you select.

Notes

Only use foods and timing you have rehearsed in training — game day is no place for experiments. Pair this with a hydration plan: start well hydrated, include electrolytes for long or hot matches, and drink to thirst rather than over-drinking.