FIFA quietly drops alcohol branding from Player of the Match award for Muslim footballers

By MNTV Staff Writer

FIFA has quietly altered one of the most visible rituals of the 2026 World Cup, removing alcohol branding from its Player of the Match award when the recipient is a Muslim footballer, out of respect for Islamic beliefs around alcohol.

The Player of the Match prize, decided by an online fan vote after each game, is sponsored this tournament by the beer brand Michelob ULTRA.

Ordinarily, the winner collects the trophy at the final whistle and poses for official photographs in front of a backdrop saturated with the sponsor’s branding — images that are then circulated across FIFA’s World Cup social-media channels.

For Muslim players, that branding is now stripped out.

In its place, the backdrop carries the neutral wording “Superior Player of the Match” alongside the official FIFA World Cup emblem, and the trophy is presented without the beer logo.

The award itself is otherwise unchanged.

The adjustment, introduced without any formal statement, surfaced publicly after Morocco’s Ismael Saibari was named Player of the Match for scoring one of the fastest goals of the tournament against Scotland.

The usual Michelob ULTRA branding was absent from both the trophy visuals and the interview backdrop during his presentation.

The reason is straightforward: the consumption and promotion of alcohol are forbidden in Islam, and many Muslim players maintain distance from it for moral reasons.

Saibari is not alone.

According to multiple reports, the unbranded version of the award has also gone to Canada’s Ismael Koné, Ivory Coast’s Yan Diomande, Iran’s Ramin Rezaeian, Egypt’s Emam Ashour, Jordan’s Ali Olwan, Switzerland’s Johan Manzambi and Qatar’s goalkeeper, among others.

Outlets have offered slightly differing lists of recipients, but the pattern is consistent across the tournament’s Muslim standouts.

Long-running tension

The accommodation addresses a friction that has surfaced repeatedly when football’s commercial partnerships meet the beliefs of Muslim players.

At the 2018 World Cup in Russia, where the prize was then sponsored by Budweiser, Egypt goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy appeared to decline his Player of the Match award after a standout display, citing religious objections to posing with alcohol branding — a moment that drew wide attention online at the time.

The pattern extends well beyond the World Cup.

In the Premier League, the traditional man-of-the-match reward once included a bottle of champagne, prompting several Muslim players — among them the Manchester City great Yaya Touré — to turn it down.

The league later swapped the alcohol for a neutral keepsake, and non-alcoholic alternatives are now commonly used in trophy celebrations across the game.

A quieter compromise

What sets the 2026 approach apart is its understatement. Rather than overhauling the award or scrapping the sponsorship, FIFA appears to have chosen a flexible middle path: keeping the prize intact while removing the branding when a player’s faith calls for it.

Coverage from Muslim outlets has framed it as a small but meaningful gesture of inclusion at a tournament featuring a record number of Muslim players and nations.

It is, in many ways, the natural sequel to a story this World Cup has told repeatedly — of a global game, and its commercial machinery, adapting to the largest Muslim presence the competition has ever seen.

For the players walking off the pitch with a trophy in hand and no beer logo behind them, it is recognition that they can be celebrated on football’s biggest stage without compromising their beliefs.

This story is part of Muslim Network TV’s ongoing coverage of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.