Aston Villa’s Lucas Digne laments French FA’s ban of in-game breaks during Ramadan

France international and Aston Villa left-back Lucas Digne (29) has lamented the French FA’s decision to ban in-game breaks during Ramadan. The FFF recenly sent out an email to officials and referees to reiterate that they will not be allowed to pause matches during the Islamic holy month in order to allow Muslim players to break their fast at sunset. “Football does not take into account the political, religious, ideological, or syndical [trade unions] considerations of its actors”, the French FA have stated, quoting the first article of their statutes. However, across the Channel, the FA and the Premier League have reportedly advised referees to allow Muslim players to break their fast during games.

2023 🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️🤦‍♂️

— Lucas Digne (@LucasDigne) March 31, 2023

OGC Nice head coach Didier Digard had voiced his disagreement with France’s policy, and he was followed in doing so by Digne. The Aston Villa left-back has taken to his social networks to express his disappointment. On Twitter, he replied “2023“, followed by three facepalm emojis, to a post sharing the French FA’s statement relating to the ban for in-game breaks to allow Muslim players to break their fast. He then retweeted Digard’s take. Finally, on Instagram, he went further in his criticism with a post that says “[In] 2023, you can stop a game for 20 minutes for [refereeing] decisions but not for a minute to drink water”.

GFFN | Bastien Cheval