Granit Xhaka

Granit Xhaka is a Swiss professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Sunderland and captains the Switzerland national team. ¹ Born in Basel in 1992 into a Kosovar Albanian family, he won two Swiss titles with Basel, spent seven years at Arsenal, helped Bayer Leverkusen to their first-ever Bundesliga title in 2024, and is Switzerland's record appearance holder. ¹ The English article describes him as a Muslim; it names no school for him, so his data record leaves his faith as unknown. ¹²

Xhaka was born on 27 September 1992 in Basel, Switzerland, into an ethnic Albanian family from Besianë, Kosovo; the family had moved from Besianë to Basel in 1990. ¹ His elder brother Taulant was also a professional footballer, for Basel and the Albania national team. ¹ Granit started his youth football with Concordia Basel and moved with his brother to Basel's youth department at the end of 2002. ¹

Xhaka broke into Basel's first team in 2010 and won the Swiss championship in each of his two seasons, completing a league and cup double in 2011–12. ¹ In May 2012 he joined Borussia Mönchengladbach, where he became club captain in 2015 and twice led the team to Champions League qualification. ¹ He signed for Arsenal in 2016 for a fee in the region of £30 million, made nearly 300 appearances over seven years, served as captain and won two FA Cups. ¹

In 2023 Xhaka returned to the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen and helped the club to their first-ever league title in his debut season. ¹ In 2025 he returned to England with newly promoted Sunderland. ¹ Part of the Swiss team that won the 2009 FIFA U-17 World Cup, he made his senior debut in 2011 and is Switzerland's record appearance holder with 152 caps, representing the country at four World Cups and three European Championships. ¹ In July 2017 he married his long-term partner Leonita Lekaj; they have three daughters. ¹ He speaks fluent Albanian, German, French and English. ¹

The English article's personal-life section ends with the sentence: "He is a Muslim." ¹ Wikidata gives his religion as Islam, generically, and the short Arabic article makes no statement about his religion at all. ²³ No source read names a school or madhhab for him personally, and the Hanafi tradition historic in Kosovo and Albania may not be inferred onto an individual, so his record states his faith as unknown. ¹

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