Ousmane Dembélé Religion

Early Life

Ousmane Dembélé was born on 15 May 1997 in Vernon, Eure, in Normandy. He is of West African descent. Dembélé played football prolifically growing up, and, at the age of 12, he began playing for the youth team of French football association club Évreux FC 27.

Salary & Contracts

Current Contract:

• Signed with Paris Saint-Germain on 12 August 2023 for 5 years / €50.4 million.
• Annual average salary of €18 million.
• Earns a base salary of €18 million for the 2025-2026 season, or €349,615 per week.
• Contract expires on June 30, 2028.

What religion is Ousmane Dembélé?

Ousmane Dembélé is a French professional footballer who is a practicing Muslim. He was born in France to a Malian father and a Mauritanian-Senegalese mother, both of whom are Muslims. After winning the 2018 FIFA World Cup, he used his prize money to fund the construction of a mosque (masjid) in his mother’s hometown/village in southern Mauritania (Diaguily area). Due to his religious beliefs, Dembélé does not drink alcohol and follows the halal dietary practices.

Ousmane Dembélé plays as a forward for the Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain. He also plays for the French national team and previously played for Borussia Dortmund and FC Barcelona. Among his many career achievements, Dembélé was a member of the France squad that won the 2018 FIFA World Cup, and years later, he won the 2025 Ballon d’Or. Dembélé became the first PSG player to ever win the Ballon d’Or award in the club’s history.

Rennes

In September 2014, Dembélé made his senior debut for Rennes’ reserve side in the Championnat de France Amateur. He made a few more appearances during the season. The next season, Dembélé made his full first-team debut as a substitute for Kamil Grosicki in the last five minutes of the game of a Ligue 1 match against Angers. Later, on 22 November, he scored his first Ligue 1 goal for the first team against Bordeaux, opening a 2–2 draw at Roazhon Park. Dembélé went on to prove his dominance on the field, becoming a regular first-team starter. At the end of his debut season, he scored twelve goals from 29 matches.

Borussia Dortmund

From Rennes, Dembélé moved to the Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund on a five-year contract. He ultimately only played one season with the club but had an exceptional tenure, scoring the first goal of a 2–1 victory as Dortmund clinched their first major title in five years. Moreover, Dembélé was named to the Bundesliga Team of the Season and awarded the league’s Rookie of the Season award. With Dortmund, he made a total of 32 league appearances and scored a total of six goals.

Barcelona

On the final day of the transfer window in 2017, Dembélé signed a five-year contract with the La Liga side Barcelona for €105 million plus a reported €40 million in add-ons. In the spring of 2017, Dembélé made his first-team debut for Barcelona when he replaced Gerard Deulofeu in a 5–0 Derbi Barceloní win over Espanyol at the Camp Nou, assisting the final goal by Luis Suárez. Later that year, Dembélé won both the Copa del Rey and La Liga winners’ medals in his first season in Spain, with the 20-year-old scoring four goals in 24 appearances across all competitions.

On 12 August 2018, Dembélé scored the winning goal against Sevilla in the Supercopa de España in an eventual 2–1 victory to win Barcelona their 13th Supercopa de España title. Two weeks after that, Dembélé scored his first Champions League goal of the season, helping Barcelona beat PSV 4–0 at the Camp Nou. Dembélé was part of the squad that won the 2017/18 La Liga and Copa del Rey double.

Paris Saint-Germain

Dembélé signed a five-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain in 2023. He made his debut coming on as a substitute in a 1–1 draw away to Toulouse. Days later, Dembélé got his first goal involvement for PSG in another 4-0 victory, this time over Marseille. Yet another 5-2 win came the next month against Monaco. Dembélé continued his hot streak by scoring his first Champions League goal with PSG in a 3–2 home defeat against his former club Barcelona in the quarter-final first leg. In his debut season in Paris, Dembélé won the Ligue 1 title with PSG. At the end of the 2025 season, Dembélé ended the season as joint-top scorer in Ligue 1 with 21 goals, having helped PSG to their 13th league title. In May, Dembélé won the Champions League after PSG beat Inter Milan 5–0 in the final, a match in which he provided two assists.

Dembélé had a wonderful 2025-26 season, winning the UEFA Super Cup and being awarded the Best FIFA Men’s Player. He also helped Paris Saint-Germain win their 12th league title in 14 years. Additionally, he led Paris Saint-Germain to the 2026 UEFA Champions League final against Arsenal after the team defeated Bayern Munich 6-5 on aggregate. On May 30, PSG and Arsenal will play in the Champions League final in Budapest.

International Career

Dembélé made his debut on the French national team in 2016, coming on to face Italy and Belarus in friendlies after Alexandre Lacazette and Nabil Fekir withdrew through injury. The next year, he scored his first goal for France in a 3–2 friendly victory against England.

In 2018, Dembélé was named in the 23-man French squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. The France national football team finished in 1st position as the champions of the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia. Four years later, Dembélé was included in the 26-man squad for the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, where he played all games as France finished the tournament as runners-up.

Personal Life

Dembélé married Rima Edbouche (a Moroccan woman) in a traditional Moroccan Islamic ceremony in 2021. Together, they have a daughter.

Philanthropic Endeavors

In his philanthropic work, Dembélé donated €100,000 to Évreux FC 27 (his first club in France) when the club faced severe financial difficulties and risked points deductions. He later donated another €100,000 to Wally Diantang (Gorgol region, Mauritania), his maternal ancestral village, as a gesture of solidarity.