AN Arise TV journalist, Reuben Abati and other social media users have shared a photo showing a goalkeeper with a black object strapped to his back with a claim that it shows the goalkeeper of Côte d’Ivoire, Yahia Fofana, with a charm at the 2023 African Cup of Nations’ (AFCON) final match.
Côte d’Ivoire beats their Nigerian opponents at the Alassane Ouattara Stadium in Abidjan on Sunday, February 11, 2024, to add a third African title.
They rallied back from a goal down to finish the match 2-1. The Ivorians who smiled home with the $7 million prize money won their third title after winning in 1992 and 2015.
In his post on X (formerly Twitter), Abati posted the screenshot with a blogpost attached to it.
“Video of Ivorian goalkeeper allegedly ‘wearing juju’ during AFCON final sparks speculation.”
The post has garnered over 680,000 views, more than 1,700 reposts, about 1,500 comments and over 4,500 likes as of February 16, 2024.
In the report, he referenced a post a by an X user, @DAMIADENUGA who posted a video alongside a caption that read:
“Be like ivory coast use jazz for us during that AFCON final.”
The post has generated over 40,000 views, with over 100 reposts and more than 400 likes on X as of February 16, 2024.
CLAIM
Video shows Ivorian goalkeeper wearing a charm at AFCON 2023’s final match.
THE FINDINGS
Findings by The FactCheckHub show that the claim is MISLEADING.
The FactCheckHub reviewed the highlight of the match and found out that the goalkeeper in the viral image is not the Ivorian goalkeeper.
First, The FactCheckHub observed that the Ivorian goalkeeper, Yalia Fofana, wore a black jersey during the match but the goalkeeper in the viral video wore a navy blue jersey.
A further look showed that the goalkeeper in the viral video has an inscription which reads ASC JARAAF (Association Sportive et Culturelle Jaraaf) on his shirt which is a Senegalese professional football club based in Dakar. They play in the top division in Senegalese football and their home stadium is Stade de Diaraf in Dakar, Senegal.
In addition, the viral goalkeeper also wears jersey number 16 while the Ivorian goalkeeper wore the jersey number 1 during the match.
THE VERDICT
The claim that the video shows the Ivorian goalkeeper with charm strapped to his back during the final match of AFCON 2023 is MISLEADING; findings show that the video is unrelated to the tournament.
Nurudeen Akewushola is a fact-checker with FactCheckHub. He has authored several fact checks which have contributed to the fight against information disorder. You can reach him via [email protected] and @NurudeenAkewus1 via Twitter.
I love this check, many thanks Fact-checker and the hub.