A football, a waterfall and one carefully timed kick. In November 2023, Muhammed Riswan filmed a short video at Keralamkundu Waterfall in Kerala’s Malappuram district. He kicked a football towards the waterfall, making it appear as though the ball had disappeared behind the falling water. The clip was meant to be a fun video with friends. It went on to attract more than 600 million views on Instagram.Nearly three years later, the freestyle footballer from Kerala has received another international recognition. Riswan is among the 25 global creators selected for Instagram’s Rings Award 2026. He is one of two Indian winners, with the other being model Bhavitha Mandava.Instagram’s recognition comes after the video took him from a local waterfall to a worldwide audience. The platform described him as a Kerala footballer “whose gravity-defying skills and 600 million Reel views have taken him from local pitches to a global stage.”
The waterfall kick that changed his life
Riswan’s viral video was filmed at Keralamkundu Waterfall in Malappuram and posted on November 18, 2023. It shows him kicking a football from a distance towards the waterfall. The ball appears to vanish behind the rocks and cascading water, leaving Riswan and his companion surprised. The response was much bigger than he expected. In an interview with Telangana Today, he recalled: “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 reel has now crossed 600 million views. The video also earned him recognition from Guinness World Records. On January 8, 2024, his achievement was officially acknowledged as the most-viewed Instagram Reel at that time. He celebrated by returning to the same waterfall with his football and record certificate. This reel also got massive engagement on the social platform.
How a hand injury changed his football journey
Riswan’s interest in football began during childhood. He is from Mankadavu village near Areekode in Malappuram district and is the son of Abdul Majeed, a shopkeeper, as reported by The New Indian Express.He had hoped to become a professional footballer, but a hand injury while playing disrupted those plans. He later turned to freestyle football, a form of the sport that focuses on tricks, ball control and juggling using different parts of the body. He began learning tricks through social media tutorials and developed a style that took football beyond conventional pitches. His videos feature him performing tricks on rooftops, mountaintops and even underwater. The waterfall kick became his most widely recognised performance.The video had also taken him to Argentina. The Argentina Football Association invited him as a VIP guest to watch Lionel Messi play at the Estadio Monumental in Buenos Aires during Argentina’s match against Venezuela in late 2025.He also recalled meeting Argentina coach Lionel Scaloni at an event in Dubai before travelling to Buenos Aires. “Scaloni shook my hand, and said my tricks inspired the squad.” The experience left him surprised by how widely the waterfall video was recognised. “We’ve seen your waterfall trick, it’s everywhere!” reporters told him, he recalled.
Why Instagram selected him for the Rings Award
Instagram’s Rings Awards recognise 25 creators from around the world for originality, creativity and their willingness to experiment with content. The programme was launched in October 2025 and is not based solely on follower numbers. In its announcement, Instagram highlighted how Riswan combined his Malayalam roots with freestyle football to build an international audience. It also noted that he had grown his profile without agents or conventional career pathways.“Without agents or traditional pathways, he has become one of India’s leading freestyle football ambassadors,” the platform said in its description of him.
What does the award mean for creators
Riswan currently has around 2.7 million followers on Instagram. The award also comes with a set of physical and digital features. Winners receive a ring featuring a four-leaf clover made from Connemara marble. They can also customise their Instagram profile background and receive a special gold-coloured ring around their Stories profile image. 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.For Riswan, the recognition marks another milestone in a journey that began with a short football trick filmed during a visit to a waterfall. What started as a casual video with friends has since brought him a Guinness World Records recognition, an invitation to see Messi play in Argentina and now a place among Instagram’s 25 global Rings Award winners.