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| - Fact check: No, players didn't pause match following an Azan call at FIFA World Cup 2022
A video has surfaced on social media showing football players suddenly pausing after the call of Azan is sounded, with many claiming that the incident happened at the FIFA World Cup underway in Qatar.
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India Today Fact Check
This is a 2018 video from Saudi Arabia. The match was paused by former English Premier Leader referee Mark Clattenburg during a match at Saudi Arabia’s King Salman Stadium to respect the Islamic call to prayer.
Football players busy during a match suddenly pause after the call of Adhan is sounded around the stadium. Once the prayer ends, the game is revived with loud applause from the fans at the gallery. These are scenes from a short video that is making the rounds on social media. People sharing it claim that this happened during the ongoing FIFA World Cup in Qatar.
But did it? AFWA’s investigation found that the video is more than four years old and from Saudi Arabia, and thus, not related to the ongoing soccer world cup in Qatar.
AFWA PROBE
We ran a reverse search of the viral video’s keyframes on Google and found that the same video on multiple social media platforms, all shared in January 2018. As per these posts, the video was from a football match in Saudi Arabia.
Taking a cue from this, we searched and found news reports about it on several media outlets, including BBC and Arab News from January 2018.
According to a BBC report, from January 25, 2018, the video was from King Salman Sport City Stadium in Saudi Arabia. Former Premier League referee Mark Clattenburg, who was officiating a match between the football clubs Al Feiha and Al-Fateh, halted the match out of respect for the Islamic call to prayer. The match was into the fifth minute of extra time when Clattenburg stopped the game with the teams at 1-1.
It is hence clear that the video in question is more than four years old and not related to the 2022 FIFA World Cup at all.
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