This photo shows a football pitch in Moscow, Russia

  • This article is more than one year old.
  • Published on August 13, 2020 at 09:00
  • Updated on August 21, 2020 at 11:52
  • 2 min read
  • By AFP India
A photo has been shared hundreds of times in multiple Facebook and Twitter posts that claim it shows a football pitch inside a forest in India. The claim is false; the photo shows a football pitch in Russia.

This photo was published here on Facebook on August 4, 2020.

Image
(Screenshot of misleading Facebook post taken on August 11, 2020.)

The post’s caption reads: “The beautiful football ground is not in Europe but in Ukhrul, Manipur, India. Exceptionally beautiful!!!”

Ukhrul is a town in India’s northeastern state of Manipur.

The post was shared here and here on Facebook, and here and here on Twitter alongside a similar claim.

The claim, however, is false.

A reverse image search on Yandex found this video of the same football pitch published here on the website for US-based media agency Shutterstock.

The caption reads: “Football field in the forest, Moscow park Meshchersky. Football, a beautiful top view of the football field, which is located in the forest.”

Image

The same football pitch can be seen here on Google Maps in Moscow’s Meshchersky park.

Below is a screenshot of an image tagged at the same location by a Google Maps user:

Image
Image


 

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

Contact us