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PeakMetrics / Fact Checks

Sports fact checks

Explore claims publishers have checked about sports. Read their original ratings and follow the evidence.

1,766 published reviews in this topic

FACTLYSports

Cristiano Ronaldo said that he loves Islam more than anything

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a social-media post asserting that Cristiano Ronaldo said he loves Islam more than anything. FACTLY traced the photo accompanying the post to a January 2022 award event in Dubai: Ronaldo received Globe Soccer’s Top Scorer of All Time award there, and the photo resembled images in news reports about that event. The review says the post’s interview-like setting was therefore misleading as evidence for the alleged statement. To investigate what Ronaldo said, FACTLY describes using a reverse image search, which led to January 2022 reports with similar images. It also points to a Khaleej Times video of a question-and-answer session after the award and says the live interaction was available on the Expo 2020 Dubai website. In the video, when asked how he liked Dubai, Ronaldo expressed affection for the city, its people and its culture—not Islam. The review concludes that the cited news coverage and the event video do not support the viral post’s attribution: it reports no statement by Ronaldo that he loves Islam the most, and says the recorded exchange instead concerns Dubai. The review labels the claim false.

日本ファクトチェックセンターSports

箱根駅伝で創価大の選手が卑劣な体当たりをした

Publisher’s rating: 誤り

Video showed contact between the runners, but the review found no evidence it was deliberate. The contacted Kokugakuin runner said the Soka runner had simply gone straight at a point where the course turned left, and asked people not to criticize Soka University.

Fact Crescendo Sri LankaSports

ඉන්දු – ශ්‍රී ලංකා පළමු එක්දින තරඟය හේතුවෙන් මුළු ඉන්දියාවටම නිවාඩු දිනයක් ලෙස ප්‍රකාශයට පත් කළා ද?

Publisher’s rating: Explainer

The claim concerned the first India–Sri Lanka ODI of 2023, played in Guwahati, Assam, and whether the Indian government had declared a holiday throughout the country so people could watch it. The review reports that it checked for coverage in major Indian media and consulted Fact Crescendo’s Indian team. It says those checks found no nationwide holiday: January 10 was not a holiday across India, and the Indian government had not granted one to the whole country. The apparent basis for the claim was a more limited decision. The review says the Assam government approved a half-day holiday in Kamrup (Metro) district for the match. Under the announcement described in the article, Assam government offices and educational institutions under the district’s administration were to close after 1 p.m. The match was scheduled for January 10 at Barsapara CA Cricket Stadium in Guwahati. Thus, the district-level measure did not support the broader claim that all of India had a holiday. The review also reports that its Assam-language team confirmed the holiday was a half-day one. Its account distinguishes that local arrangement from a nationwide government holiday; it does not describe a countrywide closure.

Factcrescendo Sri LankaSports

Ronaldo’s Debut Goal For Al-Nassr FC(VIDEO) !!

Publisher’s rating: Misleading

The review examined a social-media video presented as showing Cristiano Ronaldo scoring his debut goal for Al-Nassr FC. Its central finding is that the clip instead shows a goal Ronaldo scored for Juventus against Udinese in August 2021. The review also reports that, at the time of the viral claim, Ronaldo had joined Al-Nassr but had not yet begun playing for the club: the reporting it found described training, not a competitive debut. To investigate, the review says it first searched for evidence that Ronaldo had started playing for Al-Nassr and found reports of training sessions. It also checked ESPN’s official account, which described Ronaldo’s first Al-Nassr training session. The review then used key frames from the viral video in a Google reverse-image search, which led it to identify the footage as Ronaldo’s 2021 Juventus goal. The review cites reports that the Juventus–Udinese match ended 2–2 after Ronaldo’s 94th-minute goal was ruled out by VAR. It also notes that a photograph uploaded to Alamy on the same date showed Ronaldo celebrating with former teammate Giorgio Chiellini before the goal was disallowed. These details support the review’s conclusion that the circulating clip was old footage, not a goal on Al-Nassr debut.

FACTLYSports

Cristiano Ronaldo said Inshallah in a live social media stream after joining Al Nassr FC

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerns a video in which Cristiano Ronaldo says “Inshallah” and alleges that it was recorded in a live social media stream after he joined Al Nassr FC. The review identifies the footage as an Instagram live Q&A from October 2020, before his move to the Saudi club in December 2022. That timing directly contradicts the claim’s description of the video as post-joining.

FACTLYSports

FIFA will keep the feet of football player Pele in a museum display

Publisher’s rating: FALSE

The claim concerned a social media post alleging that FIFA would put footballer Pelé’s feet on display in a museum. FACTLY examined whether FIFA had announced such a decision, noting that the post circulated after Pelé died on 29 December 2022. The review reports that searches for FIFA announcements and press releases did not find evidence of the alleged plan. FACTLY also looked for information on FIFA’s website and official Twitter account, and searched the website of TNT Sports Brazil, which the viral graphic credited as its source. The review says it found no relevant FIFA announcement on those channels and no article about the alleged decision on TNT Sports Brazil’s website. It also reports finding no coverage of the supposed decision in popular media outlets. The review cites a Reuters fact-check as reporting that a FIFA spokesperson called the claim “completely false.” It distinguishes the viral claim from a separate fact: Pelé’s footprints—not his feet—are preserved in the hall of fame at Maracanã Stadium in Brazil. The evidence described in the review therefore does not support the claim that FIFA planned a museum display of his feet.