Kanoute to give Seville first mosque in 700 years

After successfully raising $1 million in an online fundraising campaign, former football star, Fred Oumar Kanoute is set to build first mosque in Spain’s city of Seville in over 700 years.

The Frenchman with a Malian descend who played for Sevilla FC revealed this development on Tuesday.

“Thank you and may Allah reward for you for all those who participated in the campaign,” Kanoute’s tweet appreciating the participants of the year-long crowdfunding campaign reads.

It was learnt that the project will also include the mosque and a cultural center for the Seville’s Muslims which would be the first of its kind in over 700 years.

Kanoute who converted to Islam at the age of 20 told Aljazeera that, when he arrived the city of Seville he found it difficult to locate a mosque.

“When I arrived there [Seville], it was very difficult to find a mosque. I had to ask people,” he said.

He said Seville has over 30,000 Muslim with a mix of Spanish converts, second-generation Spanish Muslims, and people from Algeria, Morocco, Senegal and Malian background.

Before this crowdfunding campaign, Kanoute had in 2007 bought prayer space in Seville that was at the brink of shutdown after hiring contract was set to expire, but the raised fund would provide the Muslims with a permanent and larger praying space in Seville.