Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.
Claim
Several social media users are claiming that former Ivory Coast footballer and Chelsea legend Didier Drogba has converted to Islam, along with photos of the player offering prayers with another man.
The archived versions of the tweets can be seen here and here.
Fact check
Newschecker first ran a keyword search for “Didier Drogba Muslim”, which led us to a tweet from the footballer himself on November 8. Drogba debunks the viral posts, stating that he has not changed religion and the photos were just of him paying respect to his Muslim brothers during a visit to his village.
Drogba posted the same response on his Facebook page. We also noticed that on November 7, he posted a series of photos. According to the post, he had visited Niaprahio and Guiberoua, a village and town in Ivory Coast, for a tournament towards “social cohesion”.
We can confirm from the Facebook photo (left) that the viral images are of the same two people and that it was taken during Drogba’s visit to his village.
Result: False
Source
Tweet by Dider Drogba, November 8, 2022
If you liked this and want to read more such fact checks then click here.
If you would like us to fact-check a claim, give feedback, or lodge a complaint, WhatsApp us at 9999499044 or email us at checkthis@newschecker.in. You can also visit the Contact Us page and fill out the form.
Authors
Kushel HM is a mechanical engineer-turned-journalist, who loves all things football, tennis and films. He was with the news desk at the Hindustan Times, Mumbai, before joining Newschecker.