A Kerala footballer has been named among the 25 winners of the Instagram Rings Award. Muhammed Riswan is one of only two Indians to win the honour this year, the other being Chanel model Bhavitha Mandava.
The Instagram Rings Awards is an annual creator recognition program launched in October last year. Its aim is to honor 25 global creators who make an impact through originality and creativity, regardless of their follower count.
In a news release last year, the Meta-owned company had described Rings as “an award from Instagram that’s all about celebrating those who aren’t afraid to take creative chances and do it their way. Those who bring people together over their creativity, and deserve recognition.”
Who is Muhammed Riswan?
Muhammed Riswan is a freestyle footballer from Kerala who first shot to fame in November 2023, when he posted a video that showed him kicking a football into a waterfall. The Reel shattered all records at the time, garnering more than 600 million views.
Filmed at the Keralamkundu Waterfall in Malappuram, Kerala, that one video led to Riswan’s rise as an Instagram creator. “I never expected this to happen. It was just a fun video with friends. Within 10 minutes, it had around 2,00,000 views, and by the time I got home, it had already hit a million,” the Kerala-based content creator said, according to Telangana Today.
{{/usCountry}}Filmed at the Keralamkundu Waterfall in Malappuram, Kerala, that one video led to Riswan’s rise as an Instagram creator. “I never expected this to happen. It was just a fun video with friends. Within 10 minutes, it had around 2,00,000 views, and by the time I got home, it had already hit a million,” the Kerala-based content creator said, according to Telangana Today.
{{/usCountry}}In January 2024, the video earned a Guinness World Record recognition as well.
Why did Muhammed Riswan win the Instagram Rings Award?
Since then, Muhammed Riswan has cemented his status as an Instagram star. He currently has 2.7 million followers on the platform.
While announcing the winners of the Rings Awards, Instagram described Riswan as the Kerala footballer “whose gravity-defying skills and 600 million Reel views have taken him from local pitches to a global stage.”
“Blending his Malayalam roots with a distinctive freestyle style, he has built an international audience through Instagram, bringing the sport to landmarks and screens around the world,” the platform said.
It further noted how Riswan had charted his rise to fame without the help of agents representing him.
“Without agents or traditional pathways, he has become one of India’s leading freestyle football ambassadors, seamlessly integrating global brand partnerships into his craft while staying true to the creativity and community at the heart of the game,” said the note introducing him.
What do the Rings winners get?
The winners will get a mix of physical and digital perks. Each winner will get a physical ring featuring a four-leaf clover cut from Kanemara marble.
They will also be alllowed to change the background colour of their Instagram pages. Riswan's Instagram page is currently a bright pink. Furthermore, winners will get a custom gold-colour ring around their Instagram Stories, rather than the standard pink-gold ring.
(Also read: Dolly Singh becomes only creator in India to win the Instagram Golden Ring. Here’s what it means)