The German Football Association (DFB) supports the granting of cooling breaks for Muslim players by referees during Ramadan.
“There is no general instruction on this, but we naturally support it when our referees allow such water breaks during Ramadan at the request of the players,” said Lutz Michael Fröhlich, managing director of sport and communications at German Football Association (DFB Schiri GmbH), when asked by the German Press Agency (dpa) on Monday.
“They are welcome to continue to do so.”
Referee Bastian Dankert had allowed Leipzig player Mohamed Simakan to take a drinking break during the Premier League match between RB Leipzig and TSG 1899 Hoffenheim on Sunday.
At the make-up match between Mainz 05 and Augsburg last Wednesday, referee Matthias Jöllenbeck had also given Mainz captain Moussa Niakhaté a break to eat.
The chairman of the Central Council of Muslims in Germany, Aiman Mazyek, described the break on Deutschlandfunk radio as a ” convenience if the match then also falls at the time of sunset, i.e. when fasting is broken”.
Ramadan began on April 1 and lasts until May 1. During this time, devout Muslims fast. They do not eat or drink anything from sunrise to sunset.
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