Ramadan takes place during March and April this year. The variance on the start/end date is due to the months in the Islamic Calendar commencing on the sighting of the new moon.

The EFL has worked with ‘Muslim Chaplains in Sport’ to provide Clubs with both Ramadan and Prayer guidance to support understanding, knowledge and awareness for Club personnel. This is to ensure that those people who recognise Ramadan, and the undertaking of fasting, can be provided with the best environment during this period.

One of the focuses during Ramadan is on fasting (one of the 5 pillars of Islam), which involves abstaining from eating or drinking during daylight hours. Clearly, this has implications for Muslim players, match officials and Club staff, particularly on evening games when the fast can end during the match. It is therefore important that for the evening matches where this may occur, an opportunity during a natural stoppage in play is created to allow fasting players and match officials to come to the side of the pitch and quickly take on liquids or any energy supplements.

It is advised that for these games that referees use the team sheet exchange to determine if any players require a short pause to break their fast and agree the approximate time that the pause will take place. Similarly, match officials should also have the opportunity to break their fast and the referee will ensure that appropriate arrangements are made to facilitate this.

To further support you, information on sunset hours can be found by following the link below, a website allowing users the ability to change the geographical area to get an accurate sunrise and sunset reading for the home club. Please note that clocks move back an hour on the 31 March meaning the sunset time moves from 6:30pm to 7:30pm.

SUNRISE AND SUNSET TIMES