Did Cristiano Ronaldo, an award-winning soccer player and the captain of the Portugal national team, sell some of his trophies -- European Golden Shoes -- and donate the money "to the children of Palestine" in 2011? No, that's not true: Such rumors about Ronaldo donating to Palestine have been circulating for the past 11 years, but no official announcements confirming…
Will the likeness of Lionel Messi, captain of Argentina's national soccer team, be featured on an Argentine 1,000 pesos banknote after the team's win at the 2022 World Cup? No, that's not true: There is no evidence at the time of this writing that Messi's face will be featured on Argentina's 1,000 pesos banknote. The claim appeared in a tweet…
Did Leonel Messi, an Argentinian football star who led his national team to the 2022 World Cup, swear at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Instagram, demanding that the Ukrainian leader "take [his] people and get out of Europe" and displaying a sign with profanity directed at Zelenskyy? No, that's not true. The image was digitally altered, and Messi did not…
Did Brazilian soccer fans throw projectiles at the Brazilian soccer team coming home from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar? No, that's not true: The video on which this claim is based dates from 2018, and shows protesters throwing projectiles at a bus that they believed was part of the 2018 presidential campaign of former Brazilian leader Luiz Inácio Lula…
Does this video show a woman exposing her breasts at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, for which she was arrested? No, that is not true: the video began circulating on social media more than a year before the World Cup and appears to have been recorded in July of 2021. The statement appeared on numerous websites, including this November…
Did Qatar ban the German team's plane landing there for the FIFA World Cup because of the aircraft's inclusive logo and mural? No, that's not true: The plane left Frankfurt, Germany, and landed in Muscat, Oman, for training in mid-November. The German team boarded a smaller plane from there to fly the shorter distance to Qatar for the World Cup.…
Did Twitter CEO Elon Musk announce in a tweet that he is "buying Snapchat and deleting all the filters"? No, that's not true: There is no publicly available evidence to suggest that Musk said or tweeted such a statement. The "tweet" in this post is a digitally manipulated screenshot that originated from a meme Twitter account and was reposted on…
Did actor Morgan Freeman announce after performing at the 2022 World Cup that he has converted to Islam? No, that's not true: There is no evidence that Freeman ever publicly confirmed that he converted to Islam. The claim appeared in a Facebook post published on November 23, 2022. The post's caption read: Morgan freeman converted to islamThe famouse hollywood actor#MorganFreeman…
Did Japan's soccer team trash a dressing room at the FIFA World Cup in Qatar after losing its November 27, 2022, match to Costa Rica? No, that's not true: These photos are still frames from a video filmed in a dressing room in Stadio Renzo Barbera in Palermo, Italy, a day after the Italian team lost a match to North…
Does a viral video show Al Jazeera footage of "Nazi Ukrainians" "arrested in Qatar after they drew swastikas on football posters"? No, that's not true: The network denied that it had anything to do with the clip using its logo. More importantly, the video did not contain shots of the scene with the purportedly existing posters or provide any verifiable…
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