Do real images show FIFA President Gianni Infantino attending two World Cup games that took place simultaneously in different cities? No, that's not true: The photos have been edited to give the appearance that he was present at two matches occurring at the same time. Instead, they show different games on different days.
The claim appeared in a post and images (archived here) by the @TRNDRfootball account on X on June 25, 2026. It read:
Gianni Infantino was pictured at both Group E games, despite them kicking off at the same time. 🤔
The images showed [sic] him in each stadium are just 10 minutes apart, despite the stadiums being located hours apart. 😂
This is what the image looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: Post by @TRNDRfootball on X.)
The two matches referenced in the fake scoreboard graphics -- Ecuador vs. Germany (top, played in East Rutherford, New Jersey) and Côte d'Ivoire (Ivory Coast) vs. Curaçao (bottom, played in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) -- kicked off at the same time on June 25, 2026. The two stadiums are about 95 miles apart.
However, the top image of Infantino is from a different game. It actually shows him at the Iran-New Zealand match (archived here) on June 15, 2026, not Ecuador and Germany. The original screenshot is from about 10:50 in the game:
(Image source: Fox Sports.)
The bottom image from the social media post shows a screenshot from the Côte d'Ivoire-Curaçao game, as shown by the BBC. Lead Stories found the same image of Infantino (archived here) in the Fox Sports replay of the match from June 25, 2026:
(Image source: Fox Sports.)
Fake Infantinos in two other places
A similar claim appeared in another post (archived here) by the @_abochie account on X on June 25, 2026. It read:
Again 😮, FIFA president present at both the Sweden and Netherlands game [sic].
How tf is that possible?
Again, as with the first post, this one suggests Infantino attended two World Cup games that took place simultaneously in different cities.
This is what the image looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: Post by @_abochie on X.)
Japan vs. Sweden (top, played in Arlington, Texas) and Tunisia vs. The Netherlands (bottom, played in Kansas City, Missouri) kicked off at the same time on June 25, 2026. The two stadiums are about 500 miles apart.
Image analysis
Lead Stories ran each of the images in the post through Gemini, Google's AI assistant. For the top image (archived here), it reached this conclusion:
Yes, parts of this image have been edited or generated using Google AI.
While the image depicts a real person -- FIFA President Gianni Infantino -- and references a football match between Japan and Sweden, specific sections or elements within the image have been modified or created with the assistance of AI tools.
Gemini reached this conclusion for the second image (archived here):
Based on a digital watermark analysis, part of this image was edited or generated using Google AI.
Lead Stories reviewed video of both matches at the 10:32 mark shown in the images to see if either featured Infantino. Neither did, even when allowing a minute either side of that point in the game.
The Japan-Sweden match (archived here), this is what the Fox Sports video replay showed:
(Image source: Fox Sports.)
The Fox Sports video replay for the Tunisia-Netherlands match (archived here) showed this:
(Image source: Fox Sports.)
