Will there be Ramadan breaks at Premier League matches this weekend?

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The Premier League and English Soccer League will proceed to permit Muslim gamers to interrupt their Ramadan quick throughout matches this yr.

Because the process was first launched in 2021, groups with Muslim gamers are in a position to agree with the referee to discover a pure pause in a match for these gamers to eat some meals or replenish themselves with power gels.

Through the month of Ramadan, Muslims quick in the course of the hours between dawn and sundown. It runs in the UK this yr from Tuesday 17 February to Wednesday 18 March.

This weekend, sundown in England will happen at round 5:30pm GMT. Subsequently, if requested, there may very well be a break in play after sundown when West Ham host Bournemouth on Saturday night, or when Tottenham play Arsenal within the late afternoon recreation on Sunday.

West Ham’s El Hadji Malick Diouf, Bournemouth’s Dango Ouattara, Tottenham’s Djed Spence and Arsenal’s William Saliba are among the many Muslim gamers within the Premier League, alongside the likes of Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah and Manchester United’s Amad Diallo.

In 2021, Leicester’s Wesley Fofana and Crystal Palace’s Cheikhou Kouyate had been allowed to have Iftar, the night meal that sees Muslims break their quick at sundown, throughout a match between the groups.

Fofana thanked the Premier League, Crystal Palace and the match officers for permitting him to interrupt his quick, whereas Everton gamers Abdoulaye Doucoure, Idrissa Gueye and Amadou Onana equally stopped a match towards Newcastle to interrupt their quick in April 2024.

“I all the time love Ramadan,” Doucoure instructed the BBC in an interview in 2023. “Generally enjoying soccer has been arduous as a result of Ramadan has been in the summertime and through pre-season.

“However I’ve all the time been fortunate to practise Ramadan and there have by no means been issues with my bodily situation – I’m grateful for that.

“My faith is a very powerful factor in my life – I put my faith first, then comes my work. You are able to do each collectively and I’m pleased with that.”