Dispatch: Fact-checking the World Cup final's fallout
Online misinformation followed the World Cup final, after six weeks of competition that was coupled with plenty of political discourse and AI fakes
When Spain overcame Argentina after a tense final to win the 2026 FIFA World Cup on Sunday evening, it capped off six weeks of fierce competition that was accompanied online by plenty of commentary, claims and politics.
Months before the tournament even began, football’s governing body came under intense scrutiny for its ticket prices and its awarding of a new peace prize to U.S. President Donald Trump.
As the tournament got underway, much of the focus returned to the football. But all the way to the end, the match-ups were being linked to geopolitical narratives while fake, AI-generated content continued to proliferate.
Spotlight members were tracking these narratives and fakes throughout the World Cup — both before and after the final.
Conspiracy theories about FIFA officials and referees
Disagreements with referees are nothing new in the world of football. But this tournament saw a heightened amount of AI-generated and manipulated digital content that appeared to give more weight to theories than ever before.
👉 Lamine Yamal was not photographed with the World Cup final referee — VerificaRTVE
Following Spain’s World Cup victory, an apparent photograph of Lamine Yamal alongside Slavko Vinčić, the referee of the final, made the rounds on social media.
Several posts claimed the match was fixed and that the Slovenian referee was a supporter of the Spanish team, but RTVE found that the image was fake and created with AI.
A number of AI detection tools suggested a high likelihood of the image being AI-generated, while OpenAI’s own detector picked up a watermark confirming it was at the very least edited with OpenAI software.
There were also some visual AI errors, as can be seen in the below image.
👉 François Letexier’s Wikipedia page tampered with — SRF
In one case, Argentina staged a late comeback against Egypt in the round of 16. The Egyptians criticised several refereeing decisions, with coach Hossam Hassan even calling it a "fixed match”.
Following the match, a note appeared on Letexier's Wikipedia page stating that he had grown up in an Orthodox Jewish family. This misinformation fuelled speculation and conspiracy theories suggesting that either Israel had influenced the result or that FIFA had ensured Argentina's advancement.
The Wikipedia page had actually been manipulated. The cited article did not mention any such religious details, and no other evidence existed. In fact, the edit history of the Wikipedia page showed that an unusually high number of changes were made and deleted in the hours after the match, SRF reported.
👉 This isn't Infantino's reaction to Ferran's goal in the 2026 World Cup final — VerificaRTVE
A video circulating on social media showed FIFA President Gianni Infantino reacting coldly to a goal, and social media users claimed it was the reaction to Ferran Torres' goal in the 2026 World Cup final between Spain and Argentina.
RTVE did the digging, and found this to be false. The video itself was real, but it was not from the World Cup final.
It was actually a clip from the Round of 16 match between Canada and Morocco, which was played on July 4.
Fabricated player quotes and images
Other manipulated content and false claims surrounded players and coaches during this World Cup, and none moreso than the parties involved in the final: Spain and Argentina.
Much of the discussions claiming the competition was rigged centred around Argentina, with many believing — without evidence — that FIFA wanted footballing legend Lionel Messi to lift the trophy in what may have been his last appearance for his country. These claims ramped up when Argentina successfully reached the final — necessary context for further analysing the discourse.
👉 Luis de la Fuente did not speak of refereeing ‘robbery’ — VerificaRTVE
A post on X that was written like a news update attributed a quote to Spain’s national team coach, Luis de la Fuente, in which he purportedly criticised the refereeing of the final.
“I'm so happy we won the World Cup. This is the happiest day of my life, thanks to Ferran Torres' goal. But we also have to talk about VAR and the referee. I've never seen a bigger robbery in my coaching career than this. It seemed like they wanted Argentina and Lionel Messi to win it again at all costs,” the post cited de la Fuente as saying.
Spain’s RTVE dug into the claim, finding it to be false. There was no record of Luis de la Fuente publicly complaining about these topics, nor saying any of what was quoted.
👉 No, Spanish players did not wave the Palestinian flag on the pitch — VRT
👉 Fake images circulate of Spanish World Cup players draped in Palestinian flags — France 24
After Spain’s victory, messages appeared on X and Instagram claiming that Pedro Porro and Lamine Yamal stood on the field with Palestinian flags during the celebrations. Both of these were false, France 24 and VRT reported.
Photos do indeed show Porro carrying a flag with green, white, and black horizontal stripes at various points throughout the on-pitch celebrations and medal presentation. But it was not the Palestinian flag — it was the flag of Extremadura, the autonomous region in western Spain where he was born and raised, VRT reported.
Lamine Yamal is a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause and has previously been photographed waving the Palestinian flag, making the rumour about him seem more believable. However, the image of him on the pitch was AI-generated, as confirmed by OpenAI’s own detector.
A separate image showed him celebrating with a Palestinian keffiyah — also false.
Real images, wrong story
Some images were real but had incorrect captions applied in their reshares across social media.
👉 Fact check: Trump wasn’t edited out of Spain World Cup photo — DW
Several posts circulated online claiming that US President Donald Trump was edited out of a photo posted by the Spanish Football Federation on its social media accounts.
However, the claim was false. The image was neither AI-generated nor altered, DW reported. While Trump initially stood alongside the team as they began to lift the trophy, he was ushered further away to the side by FIFA President Gianni Infantino, at which point more photographs and videos were captured.
The same image without Trump was distributed by photo agencies.
👉 Marc Cucurella didn’t carry the World Cup in a plastic bag — VerificaRTVE
Meanwhile, videos of Spain’s Marc Cucurella circulated showing him carrying what appeared to be the World Cup trophy in a plastic bag.
A closer look revealed that it’s actually a Lego replica. Lego released a replica of the official trophy as part of its collection for the 2026 World Cup.
👉 Barcelona’s Torre Glòries was lit up before World Cup win for technical tests — VerificaRTVE
A video circulating on social media showed Barcelona's Torre Glòries illuminated with the colors of the Spanish flag, with claims that Spain was celebrating the 2026 World Cup win three days before the final.
The video was real and recent, but it was not a celebration. It was part of technical tests for the special display being planned if Luis de la Fuente's team were to win the World Cup days later — as confirmed to VerificaRTVE by the building's communications department.