Clip shows FIFA chief praising African football, not 'criticising Under-17 World Cup hosts Indonesia'
- Published on December 1, 2023 at 13:00
- 4 min read
- By AFP Indonesia
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"Thohir is slapped by the FIFA president," reads Indonesian-language text overlaid on a TikTok video shared on November 27, 2023.
Erick Thohir is the chairman of the Football Association of Indonesia (archived link).
The video shows FIFA president Gianni Infantino speaking in English to the media at a football stadium, with cutaway shots of a waterlogged pitch.
Indonesian-language subtitles displayed while Infantino speaks read: "This is a quarter-final, how can there be flooding? This is shameful and I am very disappointed in the World Cup chief organiser.
"I am so disappointed that the World Cup venue flooded like this. I don't think it was ever feasible for Indonesia to host a World Cup.
"I strongly say that Indonesia has not been successful in organising this World Cup. This is the World Cup, not an amateur tournament."
The 23-second has been viewed more than 4,400 times.
Similar posts appeared elsewhere on TikTok here, here and here, racking up a total of 83.000 video views.
A post on X, formerly Twitter, which uploaded the same 23-second clip alongside a similar claim, was reshared more than 3,800 times.
The video was shared after the Under-17 World Cup quarter-final match between Brazil and Argentina at the Jakarta International Stadium (JIS) on November 24, 2023.
According to a report in sports newspaper Diario AS, the match was postponed by 30 minutes because of a "heavy waterlogged pitch" (archived link).
Infantino, however, did not criticise Indonesia's hosting of the tournament.
Mistranslated subtitles
In the video, Infantino can in fact be heard saying: "A great final of two big powers of African football, actually of world football, with some of the biggest players in the world. I think we all look forward to a great final.
"When you see the passion of... into sporting success. We can see it every day with the players, we can see it with the teams, it's growing and growing."
A keyword search on YouTube found that Infantino made the remarks ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations final in February 2022, when Senegal triumphed over Egypt.
His remarks were captured in a video uploaded by Sky Sports News on February 6, 2022, titled, "'The future of African football is bright' - Gianni Infantino ahead of the AFCON final" (archived link).
The falsely shared posts use quotes taken from the Sky Sports News video's 19-second mark to the 33-second mark, and from the 47-second mark to the 54-second mark.
Below is a screenshot comparison between the video in the false post (left) and the genuine video from Sky Sports News (right):
In the Sky Sports News video, Infantino does not mention the Under-17 World Cup that would begin 21 months later.
The Sky Sports News clip includes a cutaway shot appearing to show Infantino meeting with officials. In the false posts, footage of the waterlogged pitch are shown instead.
A keyword search on YouTube found a similar video of the waterlogged pitch was uploaded by local media outlet Kumparan on November 24, 2023 (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip used in the false post (left), the Kumparan video (centre) and the zoomed-in Kumparan video (right):
Local Indonesian media reported here and here that FIFA did not complain about the condition of the JIS pitch (archived links here and here).
FIFA was reported as saying: "The visibility of the grass which has only been installed for three weeks is not optimal, but the bounce and flow of the ball during the 16 matches at JIS is the best among the three other venues."
AFP previously debunked other false claims about Infantino that circulated among Indonesian social media users, such as here and here.
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