America: World Cup (Fifa World Cup 2026) means one surprise after another, the gift of some new viewers. However, FIFA has brought a big change in the World Cup this time. This change was actually introduced during the Man of the Match (Player of the Match) awards.

In this year's World Cup, the fans are choosing the player of the match by voting online. A brand called Michelob ULTRA is helping FIFA to give this award. Usually, while receiving the Man of the Match award, the award-winning footballer is photographed standing in front of a backdrop with the sponsor's name holding the trophy.

Their trophies also have the name of the sponsor. Later those pictures are uploaded by FIFA on their social media. This time a small change has been made with this award ceremony.

There is a religious reason behind it. This is why FIFA made this change mainly for Muslim players. Since this brand is a drug brand and alcohol is prohibited in Islam, this change is FIFA.

Several Muslim-majority countries have strict laws on drinking. So if a Muslim footballer is man of the match, the name of that company is being removed from the backdrop of his award. This rule has already been applied to Canada's Ismail Kone, Qatar's Mahmoud Abunada, Ismail Saibari.

Instead of showing the name of this Michelob ULTRA company in the awarding ceremony of Muslim footballers, only Superior player of the match and the FIFA World Cup logo are kept on the backdrop. Although the design of the trophy remains the same, the Michelob ULTRA company name is moving away from it. A beer company called Budweiser was directly involved in awarding the player of the match award in the previous two World Cups.

Egypt's goalkeeper Mohammed Al Shenawi refused to accept the award after his excellent performance against Uruguay at the 2018 World Cup. In 2022, Kylian Mbappe also covered the brewer's logo with his hand at the award after winning the man of the match. Because, he will not promote any advertisement for any liquor or gambling company.

Even in domestic football many rules have changed now. Now, in addition to the English Premier League, non-alcoholic champagne is used instead of champagne in many cases. However, FIFA's rule is already receiving praise on social media.