A few weekends ago, during a Premier League match between Leeds United and Man City, play was briefly paused to allow Muslim players to open their fast . This has been standard practice since 2021 when the holy month of Ramadan started to coincide more regularly with professional football fixtures.
An agreement was made that, at a convenient moment near Iftar, fasting players could take some gels or liquids and continue. These breaks have always taken place during a natural pause, and with the agreement of match officials and club captains. In the age of VAR, where there are regular pauses of two or three minutes scattered across the game, an incredibly short break should barely register.
This was different, however. Whilst Omar Marmoush, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Rayan Cherki opened their fast during the 78 second delay, boos rang out across Elland Road from Leeds fans. Meanwhile, in Ligue 1, Nantes goalkeeper went down injured during a game with Le Havre to allow five of his teammates to open their fast. The French Football Federation has prohibited referees from stopping play for Muslim players and has also reportedly banned them from fasting at all whilst on international duty .
Whilst the French Federation does everything in its power to keep a league that is dominated by African and North African players, many of whom are Muslim, as “secular” as possible, Britain is facing its own identity crisis. Muslim footballers are now so visible across the league that their presence is no longer notable in the way it once was.
The response of Leeds fans was widely condemned , not least by Pep Guardiola in his post-match conference. Whilst Leeds United released a statement acknowledging this incident, they stopped short of apologising, instead offering a series of mitigations . Any other year, any other moment, this might have featured as a small, sad reminder of how much is yet to root out of the sport. As it transpired, however, the displeasure directed at Muslim footballers felt much more like a marker that things are likely going to get much worse.
Far-right, fascism and flags
In 2023, Chelsea became the first Premier League football team to host an Open Iftar, a collaboration with the Ramadan Tent project. It took place at Stamford Bridge, with participants gathering on the pitch. Since then, a number of other football clubs across the leagues have also hosted similar events with the Ramadan Tent project alongside a number hosting their own community Iftars.
These events aim to bring together members of the local community, Muslim and non-Muslim, to break bread, build bridges, and foster a deeper understanding of the Islamic faith.
This Ramadan, Everton, a team with a core of Muslim footballers, two of whom the club fondly celebrated for winning the African Cup of Nations earlier this year, held their own. The response on social media was disgusting - comments dripping in racism and Islamophobia. Whilst a number of Everton fans condemned this, the post was overwhelmed with hate and it felt like something profound had shifted in the perception of Muslims once more.
Far-right discourse is again dominating the political landscape in Britain, with mainstream media unable to appropriately tackle the issues raised without also providing neo-Nazi discourse with a comfortable place to flourish. A splintered Conservative party, coupled with weak-willed Labour leadership, has opened up a gaping hole for parties like Reform and Restore Britain to take up space and to take aim at what they perceive to be the enemy within - Muslims.
Towards the end of 2025 these sentiments (propelled by increasing frustration at the ongoing marches against Israel’s genocide of the Palestinian people) gathered into a storm, with Tommy Robinson leading a huge demonstration of pink-faced fascists in London to “Unite the Kingdom” replete with the red and white of the St George’s flag.
The same flag we’re expected to get behind when the England national team, including the first Muslim to represent England, Djed Spence, take to the pitch later this summer at the World Cup. The shared desire between Reform, Restore Britain and Tommy Robinson is to return Britain to some sort of former glory, to close the borders and conduct a purity test only keeping Britons that commit to an exorcism of their values.
Muslims regularly feature in this discourse as the ‘other’ to rail against - the identity against which this version of Britishness is pitted. Tommy Robinson has a long and storied relationship with football hooliganism, earning his violent stripes as a member of a notorious firm associated with his beloved Luton Town FC. Beyond this, whilst the link between hardcore football fans and the far-Right has softened, it is clear that the association continues to hold some weight.
Whilst recent incidents might feel inconsequential, or easily explained away, the shift for many Muslims, especially football fans, feels noticeable.
We are now in a time where football clubs regularly engage with Islam and Ramadan - showcasing how Muslim footballers are adjusting their schedules for the holy month, how clubs are making changes to accommodate them and connecting with their local Muslim communities.
We are also in a time where it is blissfully impossible to keep count of Muslim footballers that are plying their trade across the Football league and Muslim fans do not need to be quietly concerned about change in how a Muslim footballer performs during Ramadan. They have already shown us what they are capable of. Meanwhile, the presence of Muslims in public life seems to have shifted too, with hate more openly directed and supported at all aspects of Islam.
The challenge will be in how the Premier League and footballing authorities respond to this - whether they continue to move forward or whether they cower, and critically whether fans can gather some semblance of collective spirit to combat this. Sanaa Qureshi is a writer based in London and works in community sport. Follow her on Twitter: @sanaa_mq Have questions or comments? Email us at: editorial-english@alaraby.co.uk Opinions expressed in this article remain those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The New Arab, its editorial board or staff.