From a regional standout in France to the 2025 Club World Cup final, Ousmane Dembele has found his spot among the best players in the world. “He always had a ball at his feet. The ball was his friend. It never left his side, much like how everyone is glued to their phones these days,” the Paris Saint-Germain star’s former team, Evreux FC 27’s coach, Romaric Bultel, told FIFA.

Today, former Real Madrid icon Gareth Bale believes Dembele is the frontrunner to win the Ballon d’Or. “You’re winning the Champions League; obviously they’ve won their domestic treble. If they win again the Club World Cup, it’s hard to see anyone else from the season he’s had,” Bale told ESPN. Yet, beneath the shine of superstardom, Dembele’s roots are surprisingly diverse.

Where is Ousmane Dembele from, and what’s his nationality?

Born in Vernon, in the department of Eure, Normandy, in Northern France, the 28-year-old is one of four siblings. He is the eldest son of Ousmane Dembélé Sr. and Fatimata Sy. While his mother and father are not natives of the French soil, the soccer star was born and raised in the European nation, making him French by birth.

However, despite his parents’ immigration to France for better life opportunities, the PSG star had to face his fair share of challenges in life. Ousmane Sr. left the family home when the Evreux FC star was still young, putting the burden of raising four children on his mother. “She is the pivot of the family and always believed her son would be a star,” journalist Lassana Camara told The Guardian in 2017.

What is Ousmane Dembele’s ethnicity?

“Fatimata would accompany Ousmane to training every day, as well as raising the children alone by doing odd jobs to support them all. Family has always played an important role in his progression,” Camara said in 2017. Camara, who founded the website Mauritanie Foot, shares his nationality with Ousmane Dembele’s mother.

Over three decades ago, Fatimata Sy immigrated to France from the African nation of Mauritania. Officially called the Republic of Mauritania, the nation is among the poorest in the world. Dembele’s father, Dembele Sr., had done the same when he immigrated to France from Mauritania’s neighboring nation, Mali. So, despite his French nationality, the PSG star is of African descent.

And those roots still run deep in Ousmane Dembele’s life. “The day after the move to Barcelona was confirmed, an adviser of the president of the republic, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, contacted me because the president wants to invite Ousmane to Mauritania,” Camara revealed in his interview with the Guardian. Another thing that plays a big role in the soccer star’s life is religion.

Is the French soccer star Muslim or Christian?

Ousmane Dembele has never made it a secret that he is a practicing Muslim. In fact, his faith plays a large part in the PSG star’s life. The 28-year-old’s belief in his faith has also helped him face some of the biggest challenges on and off the field. It’s not uncommon to see the soccer star say a prayer before stepping onto the soccer field.

Perhaps the soccer star’s biggest gestures toward his faith came way back in 2018, when Dembele won his first FIFA World Cup with France. The winger donated his World Cup-winning medal to build a mosque in his mother’s hometown in southern Mauritania. It was a gesture toward God and the woman who took on immense hardship to make sure he could realize his soccer dreams. Needless to say, Ousmane Dembele will once again rely on his belief system during the Club World Cup final after helping PSG beat Real Madrid in the semifinal.