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| - Multiple posts on social media falsely claim an investigation will be launched into the football used for the 2022 World Cup final. But no such investigation is underway.
The posts, which have been shared widely on Facebook and TikTok, all have identical text. They say: “BREAKING: International Court of Criminal Crimes (Interpol), will open an investigation with FIFA after suspicions that the World Cup ball contained remote controls to change the course of the ball, controlled by a secret room under the pitch where screens and controllers were taking the ball where it serves Argentina's interests [sic].”
Argentina beat France 4-2 on penalties following a draw of 3-3 in the 2022 World Cup final on 18 December 2022.
The posts go on to say that “if the charge against Argentina is proven, the World Cup will be withdrawn from them” and the national team will be disqualified from participating in the next four consecutive tournaments.
However, these claims are not true. Firstly, the “International Court of Criminal Crimes” does not exist. The text is most likely referring to the International Criminal Court (ICC), which tries those accused of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
This has no connection to Interpol (the International Criminal Police Organisation), which is an intergovernmental organisation that supports police forces in 195 member countries.
Spokespeople from the International Criminal Court, Interpol and FIFA separately told fact checkers at Reuters that no such investigation has been launched.
A spokesperson for the Interpol General Secretariat reportedly said: “Interpol does not open or conduct investigations itself”, while FIFA told Reuters the claims were untrue.
Similarly, the posts all include a photo of a football that appears to have a small device suspended inside. A reverse image search shows that this image comes from an article on the Adidas website about how the 2022 World Cup tournament ball features new “connected ball technology”, which is designed to enhance VAR (Video Assistant Referee) systems with real time data like speed and direction.
Another photo shared in the posts shows four footballs plugged into a charging socket. As was reported at the time, the sensors inside the ball that collect the data are powered by a small battery that needs charging.
Full Fact has written about other claims relating to World Cup tournaments and other sporting events, including whether people are allowed to fly the St George’s flag, restrictions on footballers wearing poppies and whether the Retained EU Law Bill abolishes the right to watch the Olympics for free.
Image courtesy of Republic of Korea
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