Eric Abidal

Eric Abidal is a French retired footballer, born in Saint-Genis-Laval in 1979. ¹ A left-back and centre-back, he played mainly for Lyon and Barcelona, winning 19 trophies with the two clubs, including two Champions Leagues with Barcelona, and won 67 caps for France. ¹ His later career was marked by a liver tumour and a transplant. ¹ Raised in a Catholic family, he converted to Islam in his twenties; no source names a school for him, so his data record leaves his faith as unknown with the conversion documented. ¹²

Abidal began at Monaco and played for Lille before joining Lyon, where he won three consecutive Ligue 1 titles. ¹ In 2007 he moved to Barcelona, forming part of the side that won the treble in 2009 and a second Champions League in 2011; he returned from surgery for a liver tumour to lift the 2011 trophy at Wembley, and underwent a liver transplant in 2012. ¹ He returned to Monaco in 2013 and retired after a short spell at Olympiacos in 2014. ¹

Abidal won 67 caps for France between 2004 and 2014, representing the nation at the 2006 and 2010 World Cups and at Euro 2008. ¹

Abidal was raised in a Catholic family and converted to Islam in his 20s, as the English article records, citing L'Obs and Libération; the French article dates the conversion to 2007, four years after his marriage, and the Arabic article repeats the account. ¹³⁴ The English article's categories file him among converts to Sunni Islam, but no article's text names a school or madhhab for him, and Wikidata gives his religion simply as Islam. ¹² Lane practice does not record a convert's former faith, and a documented conversion without two sources naming a school leaves his record at unknown, with the conversion documented. ¹

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