More than just fasting: Muslim soccer stars on the deeper meaning of Ramadan

The fasting is often the focus, largely because it does make such an impact. From dawn until sunset, Muslims abstain from eating or drinking. That part of the month is generally brought to the forefront. It's why leagues, such as MLS and the Premier League, provide brief stoppages for players to refuel. Those moments are the most visible part.

What isn't visible, though, is the quieter, more personal part. Ramadan isn't just about fasting. It isn't even just about spirituality or religion, although that obviously is a major part of it all. For many, the most important part of Ramadan is rediscovering a sense of self, and turning that self into something just a little bit better.

"It's just being more intentional," Lexington SC star and Bosnian international Emina Ekic tells GOAL. "I want to be a better version of myself than I was going into it. For me personally, it's practicing patience. I get angry because that's just the kind of person I am, so sometimes I have to remind myself, 'Okay, this is not you talking, and this is exactly what you're working on'.

"It takes 30 days to create a habit, right? Ramadan is one month long. That's how it ties in. You're creating this habit and hoping it sticks and continues with it. That's the whole point."

U.S. Men's National Team midfielder Yunus Musah agrees. Ramadan is, in some ways, a mental reset. It's also a reminder of what a person can do when they accept hard things. That mindset sets the tone for the rest of the year.

"Throughout the year, when you get hungry, you eat," Musah tells GOAL. "Then this month comes and all of a sudden a switch goes on. You're disciplined with fasting, but it's not just that. It's not speaking bad language or getting angry. It's about being patient. You're fasting from all of these things now, too, and you're telling yourself that you actually can be this good. Why don't I do this all year?"

For Columbus Crew star Steven Moreira, it's also about a sense of community. A group of players is participating in Columbus, which allows them to hold each other accountable and help each other along the way. They often break fast together while also praying, doing charity work, and training as a group.

"It's good because we're not alone," he tells GOAL. "We're with our family. It's all about being close to your family and enjoying the moment. It's a little thing, but we try to figure it out together."

That word, "together", is important. It takes a village to help professional athletes navigate Ramadan, particularly when it comes to that fasting aspect.

The Crew have more Ramadan participants than most clubs in North America. Six first-team players are fasting. So, too, are four staff members. Then there are six more within the youth teams. This isn't new for the club, which is why Habroune has felt supported since his days as a youth player.

"Even when I was in the academy and was fasting, they were always super helpful and got me what I needed," he says. "The best part is that they were all super understanding. They never tried to get me to do anything else. They respected me and supported me in so many ways."

Kyla Cross, the Crew's Sports Dietitian, isn't just tasked with helping fuel the players, though. More than anything, her job is to make them feel heard.

"It's about having this togetherness that you can offer these players, so they can feel like you see them," Cross tells GOAL. "You see what they're going through, and you want to help them through it. You want to help them honor it. It's not just about them not drinking water all day and playing a soccer game. Their endurance is going to decrease, their sleep is going to be off, their muscle recovery is down, concentration, alertness, dehydration- all of these things are happening, and they have to perform in a sport they love."

Cross' role is, of course, on the diet side, and the tricky part about that is that there is no one-size-fits-all approach. Research has helped, though, and Cross says so much progress has been made within the last decade or so as clubs around the world have amassed more knowledge on what works for different players in different environments.

"It's about adjusting things here and there," she says. "Some people have found that this worked better than this. This meal was a little bit easier or a little bit more feasible. It's using evidence-based research, which is at our disposal all the time, to make changes."

The day begins with an early meal called Suhoor, which comes before dawn. Cross has her players eat high-fiber carbs, which slow release throughout the day. So, too, do dairy-based products. Multi-vitamins and Omega-3s help, too, as does cherry juice to help muscle recovery.

From there, players won't eat or drink again until Iftar, which comes after sunset. Generally, fasters will begin with something light to break the fast. Tea, water, and dates are traditional. Sometimes, a soup is helpful, Cross says. If the sun sets during a game, though, Cross and her team provide fuel to help players get through the rest of the match. Sports drinks, fruit snacks, bananas, and energy bars are all on offer. The key is to refuel players with carbohydrates and electrolytes as efficiently as possible, giving them just enough to get through 90 minutes without overloading them. 

A few hours later comes the main meal. Cross advises a good source of protein and some starchy veggies. The aim is to get good fats, electrolytes, and water back into the system, so she'll ask players to mix in a protein shake or bar, too, if they can. The focus is once again on slow-release products, which stay in the system longer and make the whole process easier.

"A lot of people are here to try to help these players," she says. "There's so much more to this than that minute break on TV for them to break their fast."

There's more to it than just diet, though. While dieting, players are expected to maintain their fitness as well, which brings its own set of challenges.

His full name is Islam Gamal, but those who work with him call him Jimmy. A former player himself, Jimmy transitioned into life as a fitness coach after his career was over, working with some of the best players in the world throughout Europe and the Middle East. He's worked with Mohamed Salah and the Egyptian National Team as well as Egyptian side Pyramids FC, who won the CAF Champions League just last year. He has a new gig in the U.S. with Corpus Christi FC in the USL League One as an assistant coach.

His own playing career has helped inform how he approaches training players during Ramadan. He was in their shoes once. He knows how hard it is.

"You're facing muscle collapse here, and we don't need to see that," he tells GOAL. "You don't need to see players losing muscle mass. This is crucial for our job, especially during games. We need that muscle mass during games. We need that high intensity."

Training protocols are different between cultures. In the Middle East, it's standard for training to be held at night. Players go through light-intensity drills until Iftar, break their fast, and then go harder until dinner. It is, in many ways, the ideal preparation for fasting athletes.

That isn't standard elsewhere, though, as most teams across the world train in the morning or early afternoon. As a result, Jimmy adjusts. He has players who are fasting participating in slightly lighter sessions, depending on the heat and humidity. The goal is to reduce the load by about 15-25 percent. If a normal training session is 90 minutes, he'll have players participate in full for around 60 or 70 minutes. For the last 20 or 30 minutes, they'll focus more on recovery.

"The aim for training is quality, not volume," he says. "Let's say the target today is a certain amount of high-speed running - no, I'm not going to do that. I'll reduce it by half, but focus on the quality. I need to push your limit. I have different strategies, but it's really about showing the players we care about them.

"We have to look at GPS. We have to look at data from ECG, heart rate, breathing, volume, everything. We have to take care of them."

Throughout his journey, Jimmy has experienced something that multiple others said during interviews for this piece: players often perform better during Ramadan. 

"It's about believing you can do it," Musah says, for example. "Once you have that belief, you go and play a match while you're fasting, but you're like 'I've got to do this'. I'm tired, but I can push more than usual. Maybe I'm lighter because I haven't eaten, but I'm going to push hard anyway because there's no way around it. I am going to push myself to perform that I can perform at the same level I normally do."

In the moments where their body is failing them, the brain picks up the slack. Jimmy says it's not a myth; that feeling is very real.

"Just ask your player and provide them with whatever you can," he says. "It's a way into his mind. If you do this, he will give you his best. He will do whatever you ask of him and do his best for the team.

"Even if you lose strength, you can feel fantastic during the game. Your brain is awake. You have this mindset where you have to prove to everyone you can do it. You're going to fast, but you want to prove you can do 200 percent more than the players that aren't fasting. Especially with coaches in Europe, you want to show you can do it and that you can be way better."

Life, of course, is different in Europe, just as it is in North America or the Middle East. Everyone has different experiences, particularly during this month, depending on where they are in the world.

Moreira, for example, experienced some horror stories in France, a country where conversations around Ramadan in sport have sometimes been more complicated. During one season, heading into some crucial matches, a coach told Morreira and his teammates that fasting was off the table, despite the fact that eight players in the squad were Muslim.

"He said that, if we wanted to do Ramadan, we could do it at the end of the season," Moreira recalls. "He said, 'If you do it, you cannot play for me'. It's not that simple. [We said] We won't play if you don't want us to, but it's our religion, and you have to respect that. The league itself didn't respect that, but the club or coach is different. Of course, he couldn't change eight players, so we all just played anyway, but it was so weird. It broke something between us and him."

During his travels, Jimmy has run into three different types of coaches. The first is very similar to the one Morreira described. He encountered one in Sudan who attempted to tell players that they couldn't fast at a crucial point in their season. Jimmy pulled that coach aside.

"You can't say that here," he says. "That will put you on the spot, and they're not going to like you. In the Middle East, if the coach tries to make someone eat before Iftar, everyone's going to be after him."

The second coach is the proactive one. Unai Emery is a great example of that, Jimmy says. At Aston Villa, Emery gave Muslim players resources and attention, helping ease the process. As for the third type of coach, they stay out of it, allowing players to do what they have to do privately as long as they keep their commitments to the team, too.

"There's that political side," Jimmy says. "They don't want to get involved in this one so, if you fast, that's okay, and that's up to you, but if you don't perform, they're going to pull you."

Ekic, meanwhile, had her own experience. Due to her Bosnian heritage, most coaches and teammates never even realized Ekic was even Muslim. Because of that, she largely kept her fasting private, going through the process alone and without much aid from those around her for much of her life.

"I never thought to bring it up to someone," she says. "I feel like people sometimes are like, 'We feel bad for you', but that's not the point. I don't want you to feel bad or have sympathy. I'm doing this because I want to do it"

That all changed during a loan spell in Australia in 2022. Her coach and sporting director at Melbourne City were Croatian, so they knew the deal. After a scary text telling Ekic to come to the office one day, she was relieved to find out that they had privately come up with a plan for her and her fast. They took an interest, too. At one point during her time in Australia, Ekic and her teammates attended a Ramadan event hosted by Bachar Houli, a famous Australian Rules Football Player. It was a valuable learning experience, one that ultimately brought Ekic closer to those around her. She answered questions throughout, but she didn't mind at all, particularly given what Ramadan was like for her in every season prior.

Ekic's favorite Ramadan experience came during international duty with Bosnia. After playing, she stayed around to spend time with her family. Due to the demographics of the area, Ramadan was in focus. At night, restaurants were overbooked with reservations, and everyone was seated, ready to break their fast. That night felt like a party. Ekic had never seen anything like it.

"There's this cannon, which scared me the first day, but when the cannon shoots, that signifies the sun has set, and everyone can break their fast," she says.  "It was also International Women's Day, so there were flowers everywhere. It was so cool to be a part of."

Ekic is keen to discuss the misconceptions. The world today is, to put it lightly, complicated. Ramadan doesn't have to be, she says.

"I feel like the world confuses Islam with politics or things happening in Islamic countries," she says. "That's government. Islam is peaceful, calm, and forgiving. It's important that people understand that."

By and large, that's what everyone interviewed is searching for: a sense of understanding. The journey is deeply personal and, for most, it's intended to stay that way. They're not asking anyone to come along on that journey with them, but merely have some understanding of what that journey entails.

"There's a lot of awareness now about Ramadan, for sure, and a lot of people know more about it now," Musah says. "They respect it, but there are also still people who don't agree with it, and that's totally fine, too. You're entitled to whatever you think, as long as you don't harm each other. It doesn't matter to me, really, because I'm still going to carry on going about my faith and doing my own thing. Whether people like it or not, this is for me."

Added Moreira: "I try not to pay attention to [the negativity]. [Fans booed] in England, but every team in England also posts 'Ramadan Mubarak' to everyone on social media. If it's just some fans, I don't pay attention. Every club in France wishes us something. Even the mayor of New York is a Muslim, too. Slowly, things are changing, and people are more understanding. That's good."

Ramadan is nearly over. It ends this week, completing a 30-day period of introspection and self-discovery. The process isn't over, though. Now, the goal is to sustain it. After showing how far you can push your body and mind for one month, it's about doing similar for the other 11 months of the year. More than anything, though, it's about being just a little bit better, on and off the field.

"There are a lot of things I want to be better at and, honestly, this month makes that easier," Habroune says. "That's what this month is for. The most important part is to see if you actually change and stick with what you were doing. Obviously, what you do during this month is good, but a lot of people just sway back to how it was before and change back. The test is to see if you actually changed and can stick to your word."

Added Moreira: "I feel calmer, more relaxed. I just feel like I enjoy this month more than other months. Hopefully, I can feel like this every month!"