Football delivery by drone is NOT from FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022

The video is from the Saudi King Cup final matches in 2019 and not from FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar

With the start of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar, social media is also the subject of discussions about football matches. There has been some misinformation, as well as news from the stadium. A video is doing the rounds with the news of a man flying into the stadium with a ball. 

The video shows a man landing on the drone at the stadium carrying the flag of Saudi Arabia and handing the football to the referee. The caption reads “Masha Allah. During the FIFA World Cup in Qatar, a man raised the Kalma Tayyaba flag in a unique way by using a drone to restore the glory of the World Cup”

This video is circulating after Saudi Arabia clinched a remarkable victory over Argentina at the opening game of the FIFA World Cup 2022on 22 November. 

However, upon further investigation, we discovered that this video has nothing to do with the FIFA World Cup football match.

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Fact Check-

We performed a reverse image search with one of the video key frames and it led us to a Facebook post on 3 May 2019. The video has been posted by a Saudi journalist named Sultan Hamdi.

The description says “It may look like a scene straight out of a Marvel movie, but we assure you it happened for real. At the Saudi King Cup final on Yesterday Thursday, a man actually did fly through air to deliver a football to the referee. The Ittihad vs Taawon Al Riyadh final saw an official flying in on a drone to kick-start the match”.

On 2 May, 2019, the video was also shared on the YouTube channel Ad Sports with Arabic subtitles. The same footage can be seen in the viral video from 3.26 to 4.28 minutes. The caption in Arabic reads, “Final between Al-Ittihad and Al-Tawoon.”

Another YouTube channel posted the same video on May 4, 2019, with the description “Man delivering the ball with a drone in Saudi Arabia”. The footage is from the Saudi King Cup final match held in 2019.

In further search we found that the Arab News has published the news of the Saudi King Cup final match on 2 May, 2019. The finals were held at the King Fahd International Stadium in Riyadh. Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman was a guest at the competition venue. 

Thus, we can clearly see that this is footage of a person coming through the drone with the ball to the football ground during the King’s Cup final on May 2, 2019 in Saudi Arabia. It is clear that this video has nothing to do with Qatar World Cup matches.

Conclusion-

Fact Crescendo found the claim made through the viral video to be False. The footage of the incident that took place as part of the 2019 Saudi King Cup final match is being falsely shared as FIFA World Cup Qatar football matches.