Djed Spence: England debutant’s Muslim faith matters to UK community
“We just haven’t had the Muslim players coming through,” Lunat adds. “Muslims haven’t had enough opportunities or enough role models for young, aspiring players to follow on from.
“There have been some issues with scouts not being in the right places in the country to spot talented young Muslim players, so they’re not picked up. Some scouts just go to the same regional clubs that have historically generated players.
“It’s not particularly good that it’s taken until 2025 for a Muslim to play for England.”
Yorkshireman Nathan Ellington converted to Islam later in life, during a career in which he scored more than 100 goals.
“When you first become Muslim, you try to navigate some of the things that are new,” Ellington explains. “You stop doing certain things and slowly change. What happens is sometimes people in football clubs don’t know much about the religion and they just look at it negatively.
“But then maybe they start to learn and realise ‘oh, it’s not that different, he just needs this adjustment, this food, time to pray’.
Those adjustments require coaching staff and team-mates to engage in good faith, and for resources to be on hand to help as much as possible.
Spence has thrived in the early days of Thomas Frank’s Tottenham reign.
“We spent time with Thomas Frank, the sports scientists, nutritionists and doctors at [his previous club] Brentford to talk about Islam, and go through how the club could best support their Muslim players,” says Riz Rehman, Zesh’s brother, who works as a player inclusion executive for the Professional Footballers’ Association.
“It’s not easy when players are fasting during Ramadan and playing at the same time, but with proper support it can be done.
“We also speak to clubs about ensuring players have a space to pray, how to include their families and understand their faith as much as possible.
“It’s all about education.”
