How players observe Ramadan in the Premier League

Ramadan will be observed by Muslims around the world from 28 February 2025, including many players in the Premier League.

In 2021, an agreement was put in place to allow Muslim players to break their fast during a Premier League match.

This first took place afterwards in a meeting between Leicester City and Crystal Palace on 26 April 2021. The match was paused at a goal-kick around the half-hour mark to allow Leicester’s Wesley Fofana and Palace’s Cheikhou Kouyate to replenish themselves with liquids and energy gels.

As in previous years, this season the captains of clubs with Muslim players will be able to agree with Premier League match officials to find a natural pause in a fixture to allow those players or match officials to break their fast.

Clubs also mark Ramadan with fans from their communities. Some have held at their stadiums an Open Iftar, or the breaking of the Ramadan fast by people of all faiths. 

'My religion is the most important thing'

As the ninth month of the Islamic calendar, Ramadan is a month of prayer, reflection and community that this year will last until the celebration of Eid on the evening of Sunday 30 March 2025.

One of the five pillars of Islam is that during Ramadan, Muslims do not eat or drink between daylight hours to show their devotion to their religion and Allah.

For Premier League players this can be a challenge, especially with the intensity of training or matches in daylight hours. But Everton’s Abdoulaye Doucoure told BBC Sport on 2023: "I always love Ramadan.

"Sometimes playing football has been hard because Ramadan has been in the summer and during pre-season. But I have always been lucky to practise Ramadan and there have never been problems with my physical condition - I am grateful for that.

"My religion is the most important thing in my life - I put my religion first, then comes my work. You can do both together and I am happy with that."

'We feel confident in England'

Doucoure was speaking as part of what was then an all-Muslim midfield trio at Goodison Park, along with Idrissa Gueye and now Aston Villa midfielder Amadou Onana, who not only played together but used to pray together.

"We feel very confident here, very accepted and everything is in place for Muslim people to enjoy,” Doucoure added. "In the Premier League you are free to do whatever suits you. They will never do anything against your faith and this is great.

"I fast every day, I don't miss any day. It has become normal and very easy for me.

"Training is still the same during Ramadan, but when we go (for away matches), we might need to eat later than the others, so the chef prepares food for us, making sure everything is in place as at home. We get halal food so there are no problems."

Watch: Doucoure's interview about Ramadan