Former Brazil Football Star Mario Jardel Admits to 7-Day Cocaine Binge

Mario Jardel is a well-respected soccer player, but he has some skeletons in his closet. The athlete recently revealed his cocaine drug habit. 

Jardel is a European Golden Boot Winner who played for the Bolton Wanderers. He admitted to going on a cocaine binge that kept him up for seven days before joining the team and moving back to Reebok Stadium in 2003.

He had many fantastic accomplishments. He won the European Golden Boot for both the 1998-99 and 2001-02 seasons. He scored a remarkable 259 goals in six seasons between 1996 and 2002. He netted 170 goals in 175 appearances at the Portuguese giants Port. 

In time, his fitness began to decline due to a knee injury, and he turned to drugs to help him deal with his emotional and physical pain. 

He has since recovered and went on the Brazilian TV Show Gran Hermano: Famosos to tell his story. 

“In 2002, I overdosed on cocaine and stayed awake for even days.

“I hired escorts and I stayed in that life thinking nothing was going to happen to me, that everything was fine with me. 

“Being a person in the public eye is not easy. We have a very high salary and, at my level, even more so.”

Fortunately, Jardel was able to overcome his drug dependency issues. At age 30 he joined Sam Allardyce’s Bolton but never scored a goal in the Premier League. All three of his goals occurred in the League Cup. 

It’s unfortunate that Jardel had to deal with pain, but it’s terrific that he lived to tell his tale to others so they can learn from his mistakes. We wish him the best of luck in his career.