Video of PSG fans rioting in May unrelated to French team’s World Cup elimination
- Published on July 24, 2026 at 16:48
- 2 min read
- By AFP Middle East & North Africa
- Translation and adaptation Tendai DUBE, AFP South Africa
After Spain's 2-0 victory over France in the 2026 World Cup semi-final, posts shared a video claiming it showed fans rioting in Paris. This is false; the clip was filmed earlier in May during celebrations after French football team Paris Saint-Germain won the Champions League.
“Localized unrest broke out in parts of Paris and several other French cities following France's 2–0 defeat to Spain in the FIFA World Cup semifinal (sic),” reads an Instagram post published on July 15, 2026.
The accompanying clip shows emergency services attending to fires on a street while people flee from the sounds of gunshots.
Similar posts circulated in Spanish and Arabic.
On July 14, Spain beat France 2-0 in the World Cup semi-finals. After the match, unrest broke out in Paris and neighbouring areas, leading to the arrest of 160 people and the shooting of a man, which is under investigation (archived here and here).
Authorities said most arrests were linked to the use of pyrotechnic devices directed at police officers, emergency workers and other security staff.
But claims that the video depicts post-World Cup unrest in Paris are false.
Champions League celebrations
A reverse image search using keyframes from the footage found that the clip shows celebrations that turned violent after Paris Saint-Germain beat Arsenal to win the UEFA Champions League on May 30, 2026 (archived here and here).
The video includes the username “@LucAuffret”, which belongs to a photographer who posted the footage online, saying he filmed the scene near the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris after the Champions League final (archived here).
A comparison shows that the original video matches the footage in the false post, confirming it was filmed almost two weeks before the World Cup began.
AFP Fact Check geolocated the footage by matching the Boucherie de la Porte de Saint-Cloud, a butcher's shop on 122 Boulevard Murat in Paris visible in the video, with Google Maps Street View (archived here).
More than 890 people were arrested during the PSG celebrations, and French President Emmanuel Macron condemned the violence that erupted in Paris and other cities (archived here).
AFP also filmed some of the unrest that followed the Champions League final.
(AFPTV / Justin DAVIS)
AFP Fact Check also debunked this claim in Spanish and Arabic, along with several other 2026 World Cup claims.
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
