Image of FIFA president injecting Lionel Messi with performance-enhancing drugs is AI-generated
- Published on July 8, 2026 at 12:57
- 2 min read
- By Harshana SILVA, AFP Sri Lanka
Lionel Messi made World Cup history in June by becoming its leading scorer even as he suffered from a minor hamstring injury weeks before the tournament, sparking the online spread of a fabricated image purportedly showing him receiving performance-enhancing drugs. The picture contains visual artefacts indicative of synthetic content and a detection tool flagged it as made with AI.
"Pessi is a fraud who plays using performance-enhancing drugs. How does a guy who was in a worse physical condition before the World Cup suddenly show skills during the World Cup?" reads part of a Sinhala-language Facebook post shared on June 30, 2026.
"Pessi" refers to Argentine footballer Lionel Messi, a term used by rival fans to mock him (archived link).
The caption went on to say that it happened in 2022 as well, when Messi had an Achilles injury and was allegedly given performance-enhancing drugs.
The post includes an image that appears to show FIFA President Gianni Infantino injecting Messi in his arm (archived link).
Similar claims were shared elsewhere on Facebook.
"That is why FIFA does not look into this. It would be easy and over if the cup were sent to Fraud Pessi's home," a Facebook user wrote.
"He should be killed, the Fraud Pessi," another user commented.
Messi remained at the heart of an injury scare only weeks before the 2026 World Cup after medical tests diagnosed him with muscle fatigue in his left hamstring (archived link).
Come June, however, he struck a memorable hat-trick against Algeria before scoring twice in a 2-0 victory over Austria (archived link).
The Argentinian powerhouse also suffered from an injured Achilles tendon weeks before the 2022 World Cup began, but went on to lead his team into victory (archived link).
There are no official reports that Messi had been caught using performance-enhancing drugs in 2022 and in the ongoing World Cup.
FIFA said on December 12, 2022 that it had conducted 2,846 tests in and out of the 2022 World Cup, while 369 tests were carried out during the competition, resulting in a total of 941 samples (archived link)
The statement added that every player in the squads of the eight quarter-finalists had been tested on average four and a half times since 2022.
FIFA also teamed up with the US Anti-Doping Agency, Sport Integrity Canada and Mexico's National Anti-Doping Committee to conduct a comprehensive testing programme for the 2026 World Cup (archived link).
The image is also-AI generated.
Visual inconsistencies
An AFP photo of Messi shows he has tattoos in his hands and legs, both of which are absent from the image shared in the false post.
An analysis of the image using Google's SynthID detector also confirmed a "very high" degree of confidence that the picture is AI-generated (archived link).
India-based outlet Firstpost also debunked a similar claim in May, 2026 (archived link).
AFP has debunked other misinformation about the World Cup here.
Copyright © AFP 2017-2026. Any commercial use of this content requires a subscription. Click here to find out more.
Is there content that you would like AFP to fact-check? Get in touch.
Contact us
