The game between Puskás Akadémia and Nyíregyháza Spartacus on Sunday, 1 March in the Hungarian first division football league Fizz Liga came to a brief halt about 15 minutes into the second half for a quite unusual reason. It was not to allow treatment of an injured player, or—of the less common occurrences—for weather conditions or issues with the stadium’s floodlights.
Rather, it was for religious reasons.
Two Muslim players on the visiting Nyíregyháza side, striker Muhamed Tijani from Nigeria and centre-back Meldin Dreskovic from Montenegro, are observing the religious holiday Ramadan, which requires adult followers of the Islam faith to keep a strict fast, abstaining from drinking or eating anything from sunrise to sundown for a month.
Sunset came at the game’s venue in Felcsút, Hungary around 5.30 pm, that day so officials stopped the play to allow the two Muslim players to eat some chocolate and drink some water at the visitors’ dugout.
These Ramadan breaks have been in place in the English Premier League since 2021. However, even there, they are not without controversy.
During the game between Leeds United and Manchester City on Saturday. 28 February, loud boos could be heard from the stands at the Elland Road Stadium in Leeds, United Kingdom. Man City manager Pep Guardiola admonished the jeering fans at his post-game press conference.
During the religious break of the Puskás v Nyíregyháza league game in Hungary, on the other hand, no booing could be heard from the audience.
All this is happening in the wake of Bayern Munich head coach and former Belgium international Vincent Kompany accusing Hungarian football culture of racism, alongside with that of Bulgaria and Serbia.
He brought up the three Eastern European nations as examples where there are players that, ‘if something happens to them and they are black players they have zero chance to have any kind of support,’ as the Bayern head coach put it.
He made these remarks after being asked about an incident in the Benfica v Real Madrid UEFA Champions League play-off game, where Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni allegedly used a racial slur to insult Real Madrid goal scorer Vinícius Júnior, triggering a major international controversy in football.
Since Kompany’s statement, the Hungarian sports daily Nemzeti Sport has reached out to the Bayern Munich press office for clarification on the basis of the accusatory claim against Hungary. They have yet to report on a response from German champions. State Secretary Responsible for Sports Affairs Ádám Schmidt of Hungary has also publicly condemned Kompany’s statements.
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