Norway
\nZidane Iqbal made history at the 2026 Fifa World Cup on Monday, becoming the first player of Pakistani heritage to feature in a men\u2019s World Cup.
\nZidane made history when he stepped onto the pitch in the 59th minute as a substitute for Iraq during their 4-1 defeat to Norway at Boston Stadium in Foxborough.
\nErling Haaland scored a brace on his World Cup debut as Norway claimed a dominant victory over Iraq in their Group I match.
\nZidane\u2019s father is from Pakistan, while his mother is Iraqi.
\nThe former Manchester United midfielder, in an interview with BBC Sport, said he was \u201csurprised\u201d when he learned of the honour and immediately told his dad, whom he hailed as a pivotal figure in shaping his professional career.
\n\u201cTo be honest, I didn\u2019t even know it myself,\u201d Zidane Iqbal told BBC Sport. \u201cI followed the account that posted it [that he was the first player of Pakistani heritage to play at a men\u2019s World Cup] and sent it to my dad straight away. I think we were both surprised. When I tried to qualify for the World Cup with Iraq, I didn\u2019t think of anything like this.
\n\u201cMy dad is Pakistani. He\u2019s my father, the man I respect the most in my life, who helped me so much in my career.
\n\u201cI play for Iraq, grew up in England, but my dad was born in Pakistan. My grandad was a first-generation there, so I have a lot of respect for that side of my family.\u201d
\nIqbal further shared that he takes pride in representing both Pakistan and Iraq and thus will be donning both countries\u2019 flags on his boots when he takes to the pitch.
\nThe midfielder also explained his decision to showcase his Pakistani heritage through his boots by reiterating the respect for both sides of his family\u2019s background.
\n\u201cI wear the Iraqi flag on my left side and the Pakistani flag on my right side,\u201d he said. \u201cI think that\u2019s because I respect both sides.
\n\u201cWhen people ask me what I feel more connected to, I can\u2019t answer. For me, they\u2019re both equal. It\u2019s about respect and something I carry with a lot of pride.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Norway Zidane Iqbal made history at the 2026 Fifa World Cup on Monday, becoming the first player of Pakistani heritage to feature in a men\u2019s World Cup. Zidane made history when he stepped onto the pitch in the 59th minute as a substitute for Iraq during their 4-1 defeat to Norway at Boston Stadium in …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":99202,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-99180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=99180"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99208,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/99180\/revisions\/99208"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/99202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=99180"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=99180"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nabanews.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=99180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}