Top sports misinformation that trended in 2024 

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As 2024 ends, we flashed back into a series of events that unfolded in Sports during the year, especially notable misinformation that occurred in the sector.

The FactCheckHub has been monitoring most of these sporting events closely and for the purpose of this report, we are documenting some claims debunked by our fact-checkers in the year. Such sporting events include the Paris Olympics 2024, AFCON 2023, UEFA Championship, and FIFA Women’s U20 World Cup, among others.

Below are some of the viral claims we debunked in the field of Sports in 2024:

1. Nwabali pictured with wife

Nigeria’s Super Eagles goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali, who plays for Chippa United, a South African side, stole the show at the African Cup of Nations (AFCON 2023) with a laudable performance that saw him save two penalties in a semi-final shootout against the South African team to win the tie for the Eagles. His performance gave him more recognition among Nigerian fans and online conversations about the goal-keeper trended then. In the conversations, some female fans expressed love interest in Nwabali.

READ: No, Video does not show Sweden’s sex competition broadcast on DSTV

A Nigerian sports journalist, Sulaiman Pooja, made a post on February 11, 2024, showing Nwabali and a lady in three different photos alongside a claim that she is the goal-keeper’s wife, and asking people to keep off.

When The FactCheckHub verified the claim here, our findings showed that it was MISLEADING as the photos were photoshopped. Our fact-checker retrieved the original photos from the social media handles of the goalkeeper via thorough search.

 

2. Photo shows Ivorian goalkeeper with charm at AFCON’s final match

Nigeria’s Super Eagles progressed to the final of the 2023 AFCON and lost to the host rival, Ivory Coast, in a match that ended 2-1. Online reactions greeted the match thereafter, as Nigerian netizens claimed that Ivorian players used voodoo to win against the Nigerian team.

Sequel to this, popular Arise News TV host, Reuben Abati, and other social media users shared a photo showing a goalkeeper with a black object strapped to his back alongside a claim that it shows the Ivorian goalkeeper, Yahia Fofana, with a charm at the 2023 AFCON final match.

The FactCheckHub checked the claim and found it MISLEADING here.

 

3. Salah beats up a fan after English Premier League (EPL) match

The EPL 2023/2024 season which kicked off in August 2023 ran into 2024 and showcased some players performance.

An Egyptian international, Mohamed Salah, who plays for Liverpool also became a subject of misinformation during the season after a photo of him and a young boy with a bleeding nose as seen here went viral online that he had beaten up the minor after his team lost a match recently (in February 2024).

However, The FactCheckHub found the claim to be MISLEADING as reported here. UK’s The Standard newspaper reported on August 11, 2019 that the eleven-year-old Louis Fowler ran into a lamp-post and knocked himself unconscious while trying to keep up with Salah’s car as he left Liverpool Football Club’s Melwood training ground. 

 

4. Tinubu suffers heart attack each time Chelsea loses EPL match

A video purportedly showing the Nigerian president, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, saying that he’s a supporter of Chelsea Football Club and that he suffers a heart attack anytime the English club loses has surfaced online.

The claim was posted by an X user, @X_Dailly, on May 2, 2024.

The FactCheckHub analyzed the video which showed traces of manipulation. The speech and lip gestures of the president do not match the audio in the clip – a common feature of deepfakes.

ALSO READ: Claim that Nigeria’s basketball team, D’Tigers now rank 4th in the world is MISLEADING

The original footage showed President Tinubu’s speech while breaking 2024 Ramadan fasting with traditional rulers and religious leaders at the Presidential Villa in Abuja in March 2024. Read the full fact-check here.

 

5. No African country has won the Olympics men’s basketball game since 1996

The 2024 Olympic games which was held in Paris, France from July 26 to August 11, 2024 also witnessed some misinformation about the tournament, including when South Sudan won the men’s basketball.

The FactCheckHub investigated one of the claims which said that no African country has won the Olympics men’s basketball game since 1996.

Findings by The FactCheckHub indicated that the claim is FALSE, as the Nigerian men’s basketball team, D’Tigers, won two matches at the London 2012 Olympics and Rio 2016 Olympics respectively.

 

6. Man displays human head as ‘prize’ from skull mining competition

The photo of a man holding a human head as his “prize” from a skull-mining competition went viral in August 2024.

An X user, @ChiemekaEb9240, shared the photo with a claim that the man in the photo was the winner of a skull mining competition.

Findings by The FactCheckHub showed that the claim is MISLEADING! When our fact-checker verified the image, it revealed earlier versions of the photo which circulated online and attributed primarily to multiple news platforms. Media reports indicated that the image was that of a farmer who had beheaded another man in Benue State.

One of the news websites, Idoma Voice that used the image in its report stated that the suspect, named Raphael Agazi, and the victim, Ajah Asim, had been in a long-standing dispute over a piece of land. The conflict escalated in July 13, 2015 at the farm, where Agazi allegedly decapitated Asim, buried half of his body in a grave on the disputed land and fled the scene. He was later arrested.

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