The car (a Korean Hyundai) stops at a deserted gas station, somewhere on the road from the Dead Sea to Amman airport. It's ten to five in the morning. The driver has calculated the technical scale to drink water and take a few drags on the last cigarette before in a few minutes the muezzin calls for prayer, and practicing Muslims will no longer be able to eat, drink or smoke until sunset, a fast of about fourteen hours.
If someone whose job consists of driving – and does not require physical effort – Ramadan complicates life, takes away energy and even the desire to talk, imagine the footballers who have to do up to two training sessions a day or play a game. played on an empty stomach, hungry and thirsty, at a high competitive level, against perfectly fed rivals, whose routine is not altered by religious precepts. The risk of injury is higher than usual.
In Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim countries, the calendar is adapted to the demands of Ramadan (which this year ended yesterday), training is early in the morning after the last permitted meal, and matches are held at 10 or 11 at night, after the players have digested dinner after sunset, and can go out on the field well hydrated. This is helped by the high temperatures and the habit of staying up very late (Amman's King Faisal Street is a hive of families with children well into the early hours, with shops open and neon lights on, and the popular Hashem restaurant He doesn't stop serving dishes of hummus and falafel until the muezzin's morning song).
For the hundreds of Muslim players in the Premier League, the Spanish League, the Bundesliga or the Italian football team, adaptation is more difficult due to customs, cultural prejudices, the enormous competitiveness and the dictatorship of the television networks, which impose their schedules. But things have changed quickly in the last two or three years and now – although most of the time it goes unnoticed by spectators – it is common, except in France, for referees to authorize a short break for Muslim players to drink water and eat. a couple of dates, a banana or a chocolate bar to replenish energy, their first food for many hours. It is no longer necessary, as was the case before, to simulate an injury to cause a pause in the game.
Jürgen Klopp was, at the request of his Muslim players (Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mané, now in the Saudi league), the first to alter training schedules during Ramadan. The acceptance of multiculturalism and diversity is an important factor, but above all the fact that the practitioners of that religion (Benzema, Elneny, Pogba, Özil, Mahrez, Kanté. Gündogän, Rüdiger, Xhaka, Dembélé...) constitute or They have been a huge investment that their clubs need to take care of. Nowadays nutritionists change eating habits starting two weeks before Ramadan begins, and menus incorporate more soups, vegetables, liquids and fruits.
Among Muslims, as among practitioners of any religion, there are more and less devout ones. The former strictly follow the precept of fasting (to which they have been accustomed since childhood), the latter are considered at least partially exempt, and authorized to have snacks during prohibited hours on match days, moving the fast to another date. After all, even Allah can understand that winning is, depending on how, the most important thing...
