Blues midfielder Idris El Mizouni has spoken about life as a professional footballer during Ramadan.

Muslims across the globe observe Ramadan during the ninth month of the Islamic calendar - this year from April 2nd to May 1st - in which they are obliged to fast every day from dawn until sunset.

“You don't eat and drink so that you can feel how less fortunate and poor people feel,” Tunisia international El Mizouni, 21, told iFollow Ipswich.

“Some people in the world don't eat or drink for even a few days at a time. We do that for 30 days.

“I have to manage myself. The club help me with my nutrition and they have given me a plan of what to eat after the sunset.

“I come to training at a normal time. When I go home, I usually have a nap and make dinner around 6pm. I'm allowed to eat at 7.43pm at the minute. I then watch TV and go to bed.

“I set another alarm for 3.50am when I have another meal and then I go back to bed ready for the next day.

“You get used to it after a few days and you're not really hungry during training. During a game it is a bit more intense but you get more thirsty rather than hungry.”

Town’s head of sports science Andy Costin added: “We try and do what we can for each individual athlete on an individual basis. We want to do what is best for the athlete and their wellbeing.

“The main thing is giving them hydration tablets to help with the water loss in training. We also give them protein supplements because that's an easy way to get a high amount of calories into them when they have been fasting all day.

“Hydration is a big one. As soon as they start dehydrating, their performance level will drop.

“We also monitor their training load a little bit. Dehydration and fasting can lead to a reduction in speed and aerobic capacities. We try and tailor that as much as we can within the training week.”

El Mizouni is one of three Muslims in the Blues’ first-team squad along with skipper Sam Morsy and Bersant Celina.

Photo: Matchday Images

iaintaylorx added 18:35 - Apr 7 The fact Benzema broke his fast 13 mins before Chelsea last night, and bagged an incredible hattrick is insane!!
1

J2BLUE added 19:54 - Apr 7 Very interesting stuff!
1

Bazza8564 added 09:03 - Apr 8 I applaud both the player and the club for coming out and explaining this. Faith is critical to some of us, and irrelevant to others. Either way we need to respect the boy and admire him for keeping his faith. On a footballing note, its clearly not going to help his availability but with all the cr*p going on it some parts of the world at present, does that really matter?

5

Monkey_Blue added 20:31 - Apr 8 I respect his right to his religious beliefs even if I don't respect any religious belief at all.
0

Blogs 295 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls