Lionel Messi's black cloak: a brief history of the bisht, given to the superstar after his World Cup triumph

By Pardis Mahdavi, Provost and Executive Vice President, The University of Montana

Shortly before Lionel Messi took to the stage to lift up the World Cup trophy, Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani put a black cloak, called a “bisht,” over the Argentinian soccer star’s shoulders.

Images of Messi wrapped in black fabric, which might have been construed as obscuring his national jersey, caused confusion around the world. Many fans questioned why the Argentinian soccer star was shrouded in an Arabian cape, with some suggesting that it “

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