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| - Fact Check: Stunning image of football field encircled by forests is not from India
The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar might be more than two years away, but football-crazy nations are gearing up for the mega sporting event, albeit with precautions amid the Covid-19 pandemic.
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India Today Fact Check
This football field is located at Meshchersky Park near Moscow in Russia.
The 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar might be more than two years away, but football-crazy nations are gearing up for the mega sporting event, albeit with precautions amid the Covid-19 pandemic. On social media, a spectacular picture of a lush green football field, surrounded by dense forest, is being widely shared with the claim that it is located in Manipur's Ukhrul.
The caption on Facebook along with the image says, "The beautiful football ground is not in Europe but in Ukhrul, Manipur, India. Exceptionally beautiful!!!"
India Today Anti Fake News War Room (AFWA) has found the claim to be false. The picture is from Russia.
The claim is viral on Twitter as well. The archived version can be seen here.
AFWA probe
Upon reverse-searching the picture, we found it on online image-sharing platform imgur. The caption of the photograph says, "Drone shot of a soccer field in the middle of the woods in Moscow".
The same picture was shared from a verified Twitter handle. Here too, the location of the football field was specified as Moscow.
Taking a clue from this, we did a keyword search on Russian search engine 'Yandex' to find out more about the soccer field. On stock photography website Shutterstock, we found a video clip of this football field. Here, its name was mentioned as Meshchersky.
According to a report published in The Sun, a picture of this football field surrounded by forest was chosen among the best autumn photos of 2019. In this article, it is mentioned that Meshchersky Park is located just outside Moscow.
Meshchersky is a 465-hectare forested park with playgrounds, hiking and biking trails, and skiing tracks.
Earlier too, similar claims were made about the picture. Several fact-check websites had debunked it. Hence, it is clear that the picture of the football field being shared on social media is not from Manipur but Meshchersky Park near Moscow.
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