{"id":120700,"date":"2026-02-26T16:39:44","date_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:39:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/all-news\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan"},"modified":"2026-02-26T16:55:59","modified_gmt":"2026-02-26T16:55:59","slug":"reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan","title":{"rendered":"Reghecampf slams daytime kickoffs during Ramadan"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. <\/strong><\/span>Al Hilal head coach Laurentiu Reghecampf has criticised local football authorities for scheduling his side\u2019s Rwanda Premier League fixture against Rayon Sports during the Ramadan fasting period.<\/p>\n<p>The Romanian tactician voiced his frustration during a post-match press conference following his team\u2019s 1\u20131 draw at Kigali Pele Stadium. The match kicked off at 3:30pm under high temperatures, with the majority of Al Hilal\u2019s players observing the holy month of Ramadan.<\/p>\n<p>During Ramadan, Muslims abstain from food and drink from sunrise to sunset\u2014a reality Reghecampf says directly impacts performance and, more importantly, player safety.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t have anything to talk about the game,\u201d Reghecampf said. \u201cWe communicated to Rwanda FA and the Rwanda Premier League that we are not ready to play day fixtures because 99 per cent of our team are Muslims, but they didn\u2019t do anything.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow can you play if you didn\u2019t drink, eat or sleep? Next time we will not play in this kind of situation. We asked them to put our games at night but they didn\u2019t do anything.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t care about anything (game results) but the lives of my players. Imagine if a player dies on the field \u2014 who is going to be responsible? This is not human.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a move that drew attention, Reghecampf made five substitutions at the start of the second half. Observers linked the decision to player fatigue and physical strain associated with fasting.<\/p>\n<p>Al Hilal had controlled much of the first half and taken an early lead before being pegged back late in the contest.<\/p>\n<p>Infrastructure constraints<\/p>\n<p>The scheduling controversy is compounded by stadium availability challenges. Of the two venues capable of hosting night matches\u2014Amahoro Stadium and Kigali Pele Stadium\u2014neither is currently available for evening fixtures.<\/p>\n<p>Amahoro Stadium is temporarily closed in preparation for the upcoming FIFA Series, while Kigali Pele Stadium has recently experienced lighting issues, forcing the Rwanda Premier League to shift several evening games to daytime slots.<\/p>\n<p>In many leagues across Africa and the Middle East, matches involving predominantly Muslim squads are often scheduled at night to allow players to break their fast before kickoff.<\/p>\n<p>Rwanda Premier League CEO Jules Karangwa acknowledged the logistical limitations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have infrastructure issues which mean we can\u2019t guarantee fixtures at their preferred kickoff time. Kigali Pele Stadium can\u2019t host evening games due to lighting problems, and Amahoro Stadium is also unavailable. So we don\u2019t have any other choice,\u201d Karangwa told Times Sport.<\/p>\n<p>He added that Al Hilal currently have two games in hand and could face further scheduling adjustments due to their participation in the CAF Champions League.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI know Al Merrikh SC also have the same concern, but we can\u2019t afford to postpone more games in this situation,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Rwanda<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Rwanda. Al Hilal head coach Laurentiu Reghecampf has criticised local football authorities for scheduling his side\u2019s Rwanda Premier League fixture against Rayon Sports during the Ramadan fasting period. The Romanian tactician voiced his frustration during a post-match press conference following his team\u2019s 1\u20131 draw at Kigali Pele Stadium. The match kicked off at [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":120699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,18],"tags":[6264,8768,758,3314],"class_list":["post-120700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-al-hilal","tag-laurentiu-reghecampf","tag-rwanda","tag-rwanda-premier-league"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Reghecampf slams daytime kickoffs during Ramadan - Rwanda<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Al Hilal head coach Laurentiu Reghecampf has criticised local football authorities for scheduling his side\u2019s Rwanda Prem ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reghecampf slams daytime kickoffs during Ramadan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Al Hilal head coach Laurentiu Reghecampf has criticised local football authorities for scheduling his side\u2019s Rwanda Prem ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Rwanda\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-02-26T16:39:44+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-02-26T16:55:59+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1772112335.008483.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1000\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"587\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Reghecampf slams daytime kickoffs during Ramadan\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-26T16:39:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-26T16:55:59+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan\"},\"wordCount\":481,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1772112335.008483.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Al Hilal\",\"Lauren\u021biu Reghecampf\",\"Rwanda\",\"Rwanda Premier League\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"Sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan\",\"name\":\"Reghecampf slams daytime kickoffs during Ramadan - Rwanda\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1772112335.008483.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-02-26T16:39:44+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-02-26T16:55:59+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"description\":\"Al Hilal head coach Laurentiu Reghecampf has criticised local football authorities for scheduling his side\u2019s Rwanda Prem ...\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1772112335.008483.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1772112335.008483.jpg\",\"width\":1000,\"height\":587,\"caption\":\"Reghecampf slams daytime kickoffs during Ramadan\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reghecampf slams daytime kickoffs during Ramadan\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/\",\"name\":\"Rwanda\",\"description\":\"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\",\"name\":\"cfeditoren\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reghecampf slams daytime kickoffs during Ramadan - Rwanda","description":"Al Hilal head coach Laurentiu Reghecampf has criticised local football authorities for scheduling his side\u2019s Rwanda Prem ...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reghecampf slams daytime kickoffs during Ramadan","og_description":"Al Hilal head coach Laurentiu Reghecampf has criticised local football authorities for scheduling his side\u2019s Rwanda Prem ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan","og_site_name":"Rwanda","article_published_time":"2026-02-26T16:39:44+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-02-26T16:55:59+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1000,"height":587,"url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1772112335.008483.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"cfeditoren","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"cfeditoren","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan"},"author":{"name":"cfeditoren","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"headline":"Reghecampf slams daytime kickoffs during Ramadan","datePublished":"2026-02-26T16:39:44+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-26T16:55:59+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan"},"wordCount":481,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1772112335.008483.jpg","keywords":["Al Hilal","Lauren\u021biu Reghecampf","Rwanda","Rwanda Premier League"],"articleSection":["all news","Sport"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan","name":"Reghecampf slams daytime kickoffs during Ramadan - Rwanda","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1772112335.008483.jpg","datePublished":"2026-02-26T16:39:44+00:00","dateModified":"2026-02-26T16:55:59+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb"},"description":"Al Hilal head coach Laurentiu Reghecampf has criticised local football authorities for scheduling his side\u2019s Rwanda Prem ...","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1772112335.008483.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sites\/23\/2026\/02\/sm_1772112335.008483.jpg","width":1000,"height":587,"caption":"Reghecampf slams daytime kickoffs during Ramadan"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/sport\/reghecampf-slams-daytime-kickoffs-during-ramadan#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reghecampf slams daytime kickoffs during Ramadan"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/","name":"Rwanda","description":"Just another Africa News Agency Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb","name":"cfeditoren"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/84"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/rwanda\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}