Faith and Football — Football Case Study

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Dispatch: a series dedicated to immersive storytelling, where our photographers and writers journey to chosen places, combining evocative imagery with long-form editorials to uncover and share unique football cultures.

Written by Ili Hyseni de Brissac
March 30, 2025

Photographed by Football Case Study Members Matthew David Stith in New Jersey and Jinane Ennasri in Doha with contributions by Charlie Raymond Kent in London.

I’ve long believed faith and football to be inherently connected. Football, like religion, has its rituals. Being a fan is often an act of faith- supporting a team because of a deeply held conviction or celebrating a goal thanks to an inexplicable moment of magic.

For players, faith also plays out on pitch. Many pray before kick oﬀ, either quietly alone or via a public display of supplication on the pitch. Kaka famously declared his faith after the 2007 Champions League final when he fell to his knees wearing an undershirt that carried the message: ‘I Belong To Jesus’. It was a moment that intimately captured how sporting achievement and spiritual conviction are more intertwined than we tend to acknowledge.

This Ramadan, for millions of Muslim footballers around the world, that intersection has taken on particular meaning. Throughout the month, they’ve continued to train and compete, maintaining intensity while observing the fast. This means going more than 12 hours a day without food or water as part of a deeply personal spiritual journey. It is one of the most demanding displays of religious dedication an athlete can undertake.

As Muslims globally celebrate Eid al-Fitr, the festival marking the end of Ramadan, we reflect on the conversations we’ve had with Muslim footballers, their experiences this month and their perspectives on the relationship between faith and football.

In the UK, a quiet revolution in representation is being staged…

At Wealdstone FC’s modest training ground in west London, Mustapha Carayol is listening to his manager take the team through the morning briefing.

While his teammates arrived at the training ground with bottles of water and energy drinks in hand, Carayol made his way in with a quiet, calm focus, heading straight to his manager to let him know of his prayer times. He has spent the month fasting and has often had to function on less than 5 hours of sleep. To add to the challenges he’s facing, he’s joined the club in the middle of a relegation battle but is relishing the task of helping the team stay up.

Now 36, Carayol is at a point in his career where every day spent on the pitch and contributing to his team is a bonus. The ex-Gambian international has spent nearly two decades in professional football, featuring for teams in Cyprus, Turkey and across England where he has played throughout the Football League. Despite representing some of the country’s biggest names (Carayol boasts Nottingham Forest, Middlesbrough and Leeds United on his C.V), fasting through a relegation scrap in non-league feels as meaningful as any spell spent at the top. “It’s like a superpower,” he tells me. “You’d never think of playing a game without eating or drinking, but when you do it, and you know why you’re doing it, it gives you something extra.”

Despite the challenges of having to train and play with intensity while fasting, Carayol is not one to make excuses. The past 31 days have been positive and fulfilling and previous experience has taught him that the mental focus and discipline required during Ramadan can be harnessed to unlock another gear as an athlete. “When I go back 2 years to Burton Albion where I was playing some of my best football [under Dino Maamria, who is also Muslim], I was just focussed and locked in”, he explains. “I then also just had that belief that God would get me through and he always has.”

Under Maamria, Carayol benefitted from a supportive environment that made sure to accommodate his faith based needs. By providing him with flexibility and space, Carayol was able to continue playing and practising his faith without compromise- something Wealdstone’s Paul Fruin, club secretary since 2005, has made sure the club provide Carayol with. “It’s just about being flexible and giving the players what they need. Mustapha’s the only one fasting at the club but in the past we’ve had two to three of the boys fasting”.

While he’s only been with the team for just under two weeks, Mustapha has felt welcomed from the start. “They’ve been brilliant. Even the other day, we had the chef here cook food for me to take home and she made sure the chicken was halal. The minute the game finishes, they ask me what I want to eat, what I need.”

Being the only player in a squad observing Ramadan can however, at times, feel isolating. Without teammates to lean on or share the experience with, the discipline of fasting becomes even more personal. Last year at Burton with the club in a state of flux after a series of sackings, Carayol was left out of the squad during Ramadan because the manager feared a drop in form from the winger. As soon as Ramadan ended, Carayol was back in the squad without so much as an explanation why. Having spent a season in Turkey with Adana Demirspor, I was curious whether observing Ramadan as a professional footballer was any easier in a country where Islamic customs are more deeply woven into everyday life.

Carayol admitted it helped to be surrounded by teammates who were also fasting, but what he shared next revealed a quirk, unique, perhaps, to Turkish football. “It was weird,” he said. “We were challenging for the title, and the owner was telling us not to fast because he needed everyone firing. I think you’d only get that in Turkey.”

The relationship between faith and football is deeply personal for Carayol. While he quietly recites or listens to prayers such as Ayatul Kursi oﬀ the pitch, the benefits gained speak loudest on it, with teammates often praising Carayol for his energy and eﬀort despite going without food or water for 12 hours a day.

Charlie Raymond Kent

“I always pray before a game or I listen to my prayers on the way to the stadium before a game and I feel like it helps me get in the zone. The boys are always asking “how are you fasting and running and getting on the ball all the time?”

In the UK Muslim footballers are increasingly visible, quietly challenging long held assumptions about what professionalism and peak performance look like. Carayol points to his cousin and Derby County midfielder Ebou Adams, running 12 to 13 kilometres a game while fasting and remembers watching N’Golo Kanté dominate the midfield during Ramadan as examples of how adhering to one’s faith oﬀers a source of strength rather than hindrance. From in-game pauses to allow players to break their fast to players like Salah performing Sujood- prostration in prayer- after scoring a goal, a quiet revolution in representation is taking place in English football, and it’s one that Carayol is a part of.

Ramadan oﬀers a lens into athletic dedication

At a home on a quiet street in Kearny, New Jersey, a group of friends gather for Iftar. The sun is beginning to set as the boys take their first bites of food in 12 hours. At the heart of the group is a Moroccan-American footballer with dreams of turning professional. Marwan, 19, like thousands of young footballers across the U.S., is chasing the dream. What sets him apart however, isn’t just talent or drive- those should be included by default- it’s how his faith is seamlessly woven into his ambitions. “If you’re not dedicated in your religion how can you be dedicated in anything else?”, he says. For Marwan, Islam isn’t something to be balanced alongside football. It is the foundation he has built his dreams on.

A fan of both PSG and Morocco and inspired by footballers like Achraf Hakimi, Marwan plays his football for Ironbound Soccer Club in Newark, in a neighbourhood more often associated with Portuguese cafes and Brazilian grocery stores than Ramadan or afternoon prayers. The Red Bulls’ Sports Illustrated Stadium, formerly known as Red Bull Arena, sits just across the river, close enough to see, but still far from reach- for now.

Marwan has been fasting during Ramadan since he was 10 or 11. Sat on the steps outside his mosque on a warm day marking the beginning of an American spring, he says the month makes him feel sharper. His fast doesn’t slow him down as many would expect. Instead, it sharpens his edge. “Sometimes I forget it’s Ramadan. I’m not even thinking I’m thirsty,” he says. “I think I play better while fasting.”

As a young footballer with big dreams, the key to a successful day of training during Ramadan lies in what’s eaten for Suhoor- the pre-dawn meal Muslims eat to prepare the body for a day of fasting. Marwan’s day typically starts at 4 or 5 AM with a meal hearty enough to provide him with the energy needed to be able to workout later in the day. “If you have a good Suhoor you’ll be good for the rest of the day”, he explains.

Matthew David Stith/Football Case Study

For Marwan faith and football aren’t two separate parts of his life he can tap in and out of. The former informs the latter and Islam gives shape and purpose to his ambition. Brought up with a deep respect for his parents and a reverence for the lessons they’ve taught him, Marwan’s faith helps him stay grounded when things don’t go his way and reminds him of the bigger picture. “If a game doesn’t go well or if it’s a final, you have to think about how God put you in that opportunity to even go to a final.” Marwan isn’t just doing this for himself, he’s doing it for those who can’t play the game but live in his prayers, people back home in Morocco or those suﬀering in Palestine. “You have to represent people when they’re not able to represent themselves.”

In a country fraught with divisions, political and cultural, the key word that Marwan lives his life by is dedication. “My faith has helped me with my goals by knowing that if God is on my side, nothing can go against me.” In that way, every run Marwan sets oﬀ on, every session he takes part in, every Sujood performed after a goal, becomes something bigger.

In Qatar, faith and football join forces to keep the dream alive…

Around the world, Muslim footballers experience Ramadan in ways shaped by their environments, ambitions and communities. But across these diﬀerent contexts, a common thread emerges: Ramadan is not a disruption to their relationship with the game, it’s a deepening of it.

At the Worker’s Accommodation Camp in Umm Salal, Qatar, a grassroots team is putting their faith in God to help keep the dream alive. Founded in 2022 by Kenyan coach and goalkeeper Robert Otiato, Mazrouah FC is a team of migrant workers from across Africa. Comprising of a number of players who have played the game at diﬀerent levels on the continent, the team is a sort of home away from home, providing its players with a platform to showcase their skills and hopefully get scouted by one of Qatar’s professional teams.

When I visited Mazrouah FC on the weekend of Eid al-Fitr in April 2023, I found a team of hungry players keen to thank God for the opportunities football had given them. Sitting with Robert and team captain Simba, I asked them how they had found balancing long work days with training and playing during Ramadan under the increasingly hot April sun.

“During fasting, it was very hard because we lacked energy. But because of our passion for football we really tried. We didn’t have much time to train, only like 30 minutes, then after the Adhan we would break our fast. Playing under the heat is very tough. Most other teams rent pitches and train during the night but for us it’s not easy because the prices are very high. In- shaa-Allah, we don’t know what might happen in future but we’d love someone to sponsor us and help us.”

2 years on, while the team continues to train on the rocky and sandy plot of land near their accommodation, Mazrouah FC has gone from strength to strength, their commitment to their faith and passion for the game unwavering. The club is now sponsored by a UK based startup who connected the team with Avec Sport, a manufacturer that has produced Bradford City’s kits in the past.

Last week, Football Case Study Member and Doha based photographer Jinane Ennasri made the 40 minute drive to Umm Salal and arrived with the team busy preparing for the resumption of the Doha Amateur League next month.

Robert’s remit as coach is not only tactical but spiritual too. Training always starts with a team talk and a group prayer, an example of how faith and football intertwine in this theatre of devotion. Robert then splits the group into two teams and a training match commences. The pitch itself is unforgiving and requires a level of skill, and indeed faith, to make things work. To make it a little easier on the goalkeepers, a layer of turf has been laid out in front of both goals to soften the impact of diving.

During a moment on the sidelines, Jinane caught up with Robert and Simba to hear more about Mazrouah’s purpose. “We are really here to inspire, our team’s purpose is to inspire, to show people that nothing is impossible and that everything is possible in-shaa-Allah.”

Often watched on by friends, the team’s training sessions oﬀer this community a reference point. Fans of football and even those who don’t hold an interest in the game congregate around the pitch to chat and de-stress after a long day’s work.

Mazrouah FC is a multi-faith team and a beacon of tolerance and integration in a country where migrant workers from Africa and south east Asia aren’t aﬀorded the same opportunities as Arabs or Europeans. Non fasting members of the team are always ready to support their brothers, making sure to bring snacks like dates and even pre-cooked meals from work ready for Iftar. During one of our catch-ups on Instagram I asked Simba how the past month had been for the team. “Alhamdulillah [praise be to God] Ramadan has been good to us this year, [the weather has been cooler than previous Ramadans] coming in the winter season. The non-muslim members have been really supportive on and oﬀ the pitch. They’re always ready to pause training to give us time to break our fast and to pray.”

While love for the beautiful game is strong here, love of God is even stronger. Simba is clear that all the opportunities he is given come from Allah and that what is meant for him will comeregard less of how long he has to wait. He arrived from Kenya several

Jinane Ennasri/ Football Case Study

years ago and brought with him experience of playing in Kenya’s regional leagues. Since moving to Qatar, Simba has sought opportunities to play professionally in the country, but residency rules are prohibitive, requiring 10 years of residency to sign for a team in Qatar’s football pyramid. “Both on and oﬀ the pitch Allah has taught me that in this life you win some and you lose some. I’ve learned that patience and faith is everything. I once got a trial with a club and my name was on the list but when the time came I was told not to come. I was angry but I reminded myself that if something is mine I will get it.” Despite the challenges, Simba is undeterred and fulfilling his spiritual obligations this monthhas reminded him of his driving force.

Across three continents and wildly diﬀerent circumstances, one thing has shone through this month. Faith doesn’t interrupt the rhythm of the game, it runs alongside it. Faith as fuel, not friction, quietly shapes how the game is played, how dreams are chased and how challenges are overcome. — IH

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