The Bisht messi wore in world cup was not made in Bangladesh

December 24, 2022 2:18 PM

Recently, A claim that the Bisht worn by Lionel Messi is made in Bogra, Bangladesh has spread widely through Facebook and some mainstream media outlets in Bangladesh.

The emir of Qatar Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani put a bisht on Argentine captain Lionel Messi during the World Cup closing ceremony. They claimed, the Bisht that Messi was wearing was made at Bisht Al Noor in Bogra, Bangladesh.

Some Bangladeshi news outlets including Desh Rupantor, Amader Shomoy, Bangla Vision, Jamuna Television and others reported on the claim.

The claim has gone viral on Facebook, some posts of the claim circulating on Facebook can be seen here, here, here and here.
Archived versions of those posts can be seen here, here, here and here.

Fact-Check

To find out the authenticity of the viral claim, Rumor Scanner conducted keyword searches and spoke to an authority from Bisht Al Noor, Bogra, Bangladesh.

By keyword searches, We have found several news reports about where the Bisht worn by Messi was made.

A keyword search led us to a report published by Arabian Business Magazine on December 20, titled “Revealed: Lionel Messi’s twenties only cost $2,000, says Qatar-based tailor”

According to the report, The robe, valued at QAR 8,000, was made by Qatar-based tailor Muhammad Abdullah Al-Salem. Made with the Japanese najafi fabric, the bisht was hand-embroidered and goes through seven different stages until it is fully delivered.

In an interview with the Middle East based magazine Esquire Middle East Arabic, Mohammad Abdullah Al-Salem, the manager of Bisht Al-Salem in Qatar, said,

“At first, we were not aware when we were asked to design this bisht that it was for the World Cup champion, and we were surprised at the opening ceremony that the bisht that Messi wore was from our store, and I felt proud when my knowledge is that our store was the first choice of officials to manufacture this bisht to be worn by the World Cup star by the Emir of the State, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani.”

The store had originally made two bishts with different sizes (short and long), for both Lionel Messi and French World Cup Captain Hugo Lloris.

Assaad Al-Hajj, the operational manager of the Salem Bisht store, said to Esquire Middle East ,

“We received two requests to design two different gowns of different sizes, and we did not receive this request from a government agency or official, but rather it was from an individual, and we did not know that the World Cup champion would wear it at the coronation ceremony. The required specifications were for the bisht to be light, which we understood later and seemed logical to us, and its purpose is for the winning team’s uniform to appear clearly from behind the bisht.”

We also found a report published by AFP. In that report AFP said, ‘The garment Messi wore as he lifted the football trophy was a $2,200 ‘bisht’, a traditional gown worn by men for weddings, graduations and official events — and it was made by Salem’s family company.’

‘Salem watched Argentina beat France in a cafe near the family’s store in Doha’s Souq Waqif market, having earlier handed two of the delicate handmade cloaks to World Cup officials — one in Messi’s diminutive size and one to fit the taller French captain Hugo Lloris. Salem recognised his company tag and is now celebrating his own World Cup victory.’

Speaking to AFP, Salem Said,

“when World Cup officials went to his store “they wanted the lightest and most transparent fabric. I was surprised because we are in winter, so it seems that the goal was to show the Argentine uniform and not cover it”

“We did not know who they were for and I was stunned of the moment when the emir, Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al-Thani, dressed Messi in the cloak,”

In an another report published in the Qatari media outlet Al-Raya said the same, that the Bisht were made in Bisht Al-Salem,Qatar. The headline of the report published by Al Raya was ‘Bisht 100% Qatari industry.’

Ahmed Abdullah Al-Salem told Al-Raya, We are very proud that the bisht that is made in Al-Salem shop is a Qatari industry from A to Z.

“Al-Salem Bishout Shop in Souq Waqif inherited it and his brothers from their father, may God have mercy on him, who inherited it from their grandfather, as the shop was established in 1958 in Souq Waqif and specialized in making Qatari Bisht through hand sewing,” He added.

The e-paper version of this report published by Al Raya has been posted on Bist Al-Salem’s Instagram account aslo.

So, the bisht worn by Messi was made in Bisht Al-Salem, Qatar. How did this false claim originate?

Rumor Scanner Bangladesh investigated and tried to find out how this false claim was generated.

Later, we found a person named Robiul Islam in a report and a screenshot of one of his Facebook post. The identity of Robiul Islam is that he is an employee of Bisht Al-Salem and currently staying in Doha, Qatar. On the other hand he is also associated with Bisht Al Noor of Bogra, Bangladesh. His father-in-law is the owner of Bisht Al Noor.

Rabiul Islam made a post on his personal Facebook ID, adding a picture of The emir of Qatar Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani putting a bisht on Lionel Messi. In the post made in Bagla, he wrote, “With great pride, our company’s bisht is being put on Messi by Sheikh Tamim with his own hands, Alhamdullih.” he didnt mention any specific shop name .

Since the privacy of his FB post is not public, we have collected screenshot of the post while communicating with Robiul Islam.

As a worker of Bisht Al-Salem, Robiul Islam made the post out of pride. Since he did not mention any specific shop in his post, some people on his FB friend list and local journalists assumed it was made from Bisht Al Noor in Bogra, owned by Robiul and his father-in-law. Then they preached that the bisht was made in Bisht al Noor, Bogra. As a result, it went viral on Facebook and later some mainstream news outlets also reported on it.

We spoke to Robiul Islam, a worker from Al Salem in Qatar and a partner of Al Noor. When we told him about the viral claim and asked to tell us about the matter, he gave us a detail statement. Robiul said to Rumor Scanner,

“There is a bisht factory in Bogra and they are making bisht there. But the bisht of Messi wearing was not made there. The Bisht worn by Messi is made in Bisht Al-Salem, Qatar. Although Bisht Al Noor, Bogra supplies Bisht to Bisht Al-Salem in Qatar, But Messi’s bisht did not made in Bogra. Messi’s bisht made here in Qatar at Al-Salem workshop. Some journalists have exaggerated the matter.”

So, the claim that ‘Messi was wearing a Bisht made by Bisht Al Noor, Bogra’ is false.