Ballon d’Or: Who Is The First Muslim Winner?

Recent years have been awesome for Muslims in the world of football. Achievements and feats that were reserved for ‘others’ are now being attained by Muslim players. This season, Mohammed Salah came off the bench to score what has become the fastest hat trick in UEFA Champions League history in Liverpool’s 7-1 thrashing of Rangers FC of Scotland on 12^th October.

On Monday (17^th October), the Balon d’Or ceremony was held in Paris and Muslims set a number of records.

• It was the first time a Muslim was appearing in the first three
• Two Muslims were in the top three, Karim Mostafa Benzema and Sadio Mane
• A Muslim won the award

Arguments have risen concerning who holds the record for ‘First Muslim to win the Balon d’Or’. Is it truly Karim Benzema, or was it Zinedine Yazid Zidane?

Asides having some resemblance, Zinedine Zidane and Karim Benzema have a lot in common; the most prominent of those being that they are both of Algerian origin and both have their allegiance to the French national team (Les Blue).

Zinedine Zidane

Zinedine Zidane won the Balon d’Or once in 1998. However, Zidane has reiterated a number of times that he is a ‘non practicing Muslim’. In other words, he does not observe the Pillars of Islam neither does he hold dear the Islamic Articles of Faith. He married his wife, Veronique Fernandez, in a church in 1994. 

In a nutshell, Zinedine Zidane does not qualify to be called a Muslim by his own words even though in 2016 he was listed among the 500 Most Influential Muslims by the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre of Jordan. 

In 1953, Zinedine Zidane’s parents, Smaïl Zidane and Malika, migrated from the village of Aguemoune in the region of Kabylie in northern Algeria to Paris and Zidane was born in Marseille.

Karim Benzema

Though Karim Benzema’s family might not be described as been ardently Muslim, Karim Benzema performed the Umrah in 2016 and posted videos and pictures of his journey on social media. He also has a son named Ibrahim. 

Talking about his roots, his grandfather, Da Lakehal Benzema, was from a village called Tigzirt in the northern town of Aït Djellil in Algeria. He migrated to Lyon in France in the 1950s. Karim Benzema's father, Hafid Benzema, was born in Algeria, while his mother, Wahida Djebbara, and her family originated from Oran in Algeria but she was born and raised in Lyon.

So, back to the question; ‘who is the first Muslim to win the Balon d’Or?’ It has to be the one who shows his allegiance to Islam; it is Karim Mostafa Benzema.