Thursday 13 / February / 2025
Muscat: Tunisian footballers appear to have devised a clever way to break their fasts while playing friendlies during the month of Ramadan.
In the last two pre-world cup friendlies that the north African nation has played, Tunisian goalkeeper Mouez Hassan went down complaining about injuries early in the second half, allowing his teammates to break their fast by drinking water and eating a few dates, handed to them by medical staff and teammates.
This has led many to speculate that the goalie might have feigned those injuries to enable the Tunisian outfield players to break their fasts.
During their first match against Portugal, Hassan went down in the 58th minute, allowing his teammates to rush to the sidelines to break their fast with water and dates. They drew that game with Portugal 2-2.
In their second match, goalie Hassan went down in the 49th minute, allowing players to break their fast again. Tunisia drew the game 2-2 against Turkey, this time.
Tunisian freelance sports journalist Suhail Khmira was quick to observe what had happened on Twitter.
"Fun fact: Tunisian National team has played the last two friendlies while fasting. So, whenever the time comes to break fast. The players have an agreement that the GK would go down so they can get a moment to drink some water and get something to eat," he tweeted.
Muslim adults around the world abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset and practise general discipline during the month of Ramadan. The breaking of the fast is referred to as iftar.
