Nantes coach Antoine Kombuari spoke about his players' fasting during the month of Ramadan, stressing that fasting is prohibited during match days.

The French newspaper, Ouest, revealed that Kombouari had excluded Algeria's Joan Hajjam, the team's player, from the Reims match, because of his refusal to have breakfast on the day of the match.

"I support the players who fast," Compuare told a news conference. "There is no problem with fasting on training days, but on match day you should not fast."

He added, "Whoever insists on fasting will not join the match list. It is not a penalty. I set the rules. This is his choice and I respect that."

And he continued, "There are other Muslims in the team, such as Mustafa Mohamed, Jean-Charles Castelletto, and Moussa Sissoko. They fast during training days and do not do so on match day."

"This is my way of dealing with fasting since the beginning of my coaching career 20 years ago," he concluded.

Nantes lost from Reims 0-3 on Sunday at home in the 29th round of the French League.

According to the French newspaper West, Joan Hajjam refused breakfast on the day of the match, which led to his exclusion from the match list.

According to West, Hijam agreed to break the fast on the day of the away game, but insisted on fasting on the days the team played at home.

The newspaper pointed out that the rest of the Muslim players in the team had agreed to break the fast on match days.

The 20-year-old is an Algerian player who made his international debut against Niger during the last international break.

The French Football Federation had issued a statement stressing its refusal to stop referees from matches so that Muslim players could break their fast in night matches.