Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
Argentina stormed into the semi-finals of the FIFA World Cup after beating the Netherlands 4-3 in a penalty shootout in Qatar on Saturday. The World CUP quarter-final match between Holland and Argentina had descended into chaos after Argentinian substitutes and coaching staff had come onto the ground at the Lusail International Stadium. The referee had issued a record 17 cards during and after the match for discipline violations. Against this backdrop, a video claiming that Argentina which has allegedly reached into the final of the FIFA World Cup is not likely to get a chance to play the final match, and the irate Argentinian fans vandalised vehicles in Qatar, is going viral on TikTok. Newschecker found the claim to be false.
TikTok user @worldinformation.offical posted a video showing a clip of a news bulletin bearing a logo of News24 Television Channel. The news audio is heard saying, “The governing body of international football, FIFA, will take action against Argentina and the Netherlands on the charge of violating discipline.” Text superimposed on the video reads, “Sad news as Argentina, which has reached into the final [of FIFA World Cup] is likely to be deprived of the chance to play the final. As the supreme body of international football, FIFA, increases chances of disallowing Argentina to play the final, irate fans of Lionel Messi have resorted to vandalism in Qatar.”
The video posted on December 12 has garnered 3136 likes, 151 shares and 97 users have commented on it until the last count.
Fact Check /Verification
To check the authenticity of the claim made in the viral video, Newschecker took the logo of New24 Television as a clue and searched for the news clip used in the viral video. On searching the YouTube channel of New24 Television, we found a news bulletin video posted on December 11 whose frames from the 2.33-minute timestamp exactly matched the viral video.
Further, we searched for news regarding FIFA’s action against Argentina and found several news articles about the football governing body opening disciplinary cases against the South American country and the Netherlands after the bad-tempered quarter final. However, there are no reports of the world football governing body likely to prohibit Argentina from playing the final match.
According to the BBC Sports, the camps of both sides clashed during a feisty encounter which saw the Dutch come from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 before Argentina won on penalties. However, we didn’t find any news regarding FIFA disallowing Argentina to play the final.
Further, we searched for news regarding FIFA’s action against Argentina and found several news articles about the football governing body opening disciplinary cases against the South American country and the Netherlands after the bad-tempered quarter final. However, there are no reports of the world football governing body considering prohibiting Argentina from playing the final match.
According to the BBC Sports, the camps of both sides clashed during a feisty encounter which saw the Dutch come from 2-0 down to draw 2-2 before Argentina won on penalties. However, we didn’t find any news regarding FIFA disallowing Argentina to play the final.
Notably, Argentina has not reached the final of FIFA as claimed in the video. They are yet to play and win a semi-final match against Croatia on December 13 to secure a berth in the final.
We also searched for news of vandalism by fans of Argentina and Lionel Messi in Qatar, but to no avail.
Conclusion
The viral video claiming that FIFA is likely to disallow Argentina to play the final match in the ongoing World Cup and the Argentinian fans took to vandalism is false.
Result: False
Sources
News24 YouTube
Associated Press
BBC Sports
Sanjeeb Phuyal is the Nepali Editor of Newschecker based in Kathmandu, Nepal. He brings over a decade of experience writing and editing news. In his previous stint, he worked as online editor for The Kathmandu Post. With the growth of social media platforms—and the ever-growing competition amongst media outlets to churn out breaking news, he feels that fact-checking every piece of information has become more essential today than ever before.
