FIFA did not 'cancel Bahrain late goal' in World Cup qualifying match against Indonesia

  • Published on October 18, 2024 at 05:31
  • Updated on October 18, 2024 at 06:20
  • 3 min read
  • By AFP Indonesia
Following the dramatic World Cup qualifying match between Indonesia and Bahrain that ended in a draw, posts have surfaced on Indonesian social media falsely claiming FIFA cancelled Bahrain's controversial goal scored during added time. But the video of Gianni Infantino -- the head of the football governing body -- purportedly making the announcement was actually manipulated from earlier clips unrelated to the match. As of October 18, there has been no official statement from FIFA that the result of the Bahrain-Indonesia match was changed.

The false claim was shared in a Facebook post on October 12, 2024 which included a video of Infantino appearing to speak in French.

The clip, viewed more than five million times, was overlaid with Indonesian-language text purportedly translating his remarks. It said: "FIFA cancels the second goal from Bahrain. The match of Indonesia VS Bahrain ended 2-1, for Indonesia."

A screenshot appearing to show a 2-1 win for Indonesia over Bahrain was also featured in the clip.

Image
Screenshot of the false post from Facebook, taken on October 15, 2024

The clip was also shared alongside similar claims on TikTok and SnackVideo.

The posts surfaced after a World Cup qualifiers match between Indonesia and Bahrain on October 10 ended with a 2-2 draw after the latter team scored a controversial equaliser in the ninth minute of added time (archived link).

Channel News Asia reported that Indonesian players protested and fans flooded social media with complaints they had been "robbed" (archived link).

Comments left to the posts suggested many social media users believed FIFA had voided Bahrain's second goal. 

"Assalamualaikum sir, thank you for the firm decision," one wrote.

"Thank you very very much FIFA," another commented. 

However, there had been no official statement from FIFA that Indonesia won the match against Bahrain as of October 18, 2024.

Misused clip

Keyword searches found the video shared in the posts was earlier shared on Infantino's verified Instagram account on October 4, several days before the Bahrain-Indonesia match (archived link).

He could be seen speaking in Spanish to announce the dates of the 2025 FIFA Under-20 World Cup which will be held in Chile.

Below is a screenshot comparison between the video in the false posts (left) and the one from Infantino's Instagram (right):

Image
Screenshot comparison between the video in the false posts (left) and the one from Infantino's Instagram (right)

The audio of the false clip, meanwhile, was taken from another video also posted on Infantino's Instagram on the same day. Speaking in French, he could be seen announcing the expanded FIFA Under-17 Women's World Cup would be held in Morocco in late 2025 (archived link).

Nowhere in either clip did he mention Indonesia or Bahrain.

Moreover, the table for the qualifying group in the false posts appears to have been taken during the match when Indonesia were still leading 2-1.

The table showed that the score for Japan and Saudi Arabia was 0-0. Japan would eventually beat Saudi Arabia 2-0 (archived link).

Updates throughout including changing "qualifiers match" to "qualifying match"
October 18, 2024 Updates throughout including changing "qualifiers match" to "qualifying match"

Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.

Contact us