On June 14, 2024, the European Football Championship kicked off in Germany, with millions of people watching it worldwide. This is a historic tournament for Georgia, as the national team managed to qualify for such a major international tournament for the first time in the history of the country’s independence, played three group matches against the national teams of Portugal, Turkey, and the Czech Republic, and having beaten Portugal, advanced to the round of 16.
Given the importance of the European Championship in the world of football, information about it is intensively spread on social networks. Numerous football fans, including those in Georgia, read news about the tournament, events in Germany, players’ comments, and other stories on social networks. During periods of such heightened public interest, when it becomes easier to reach a wide audience, disinformation and misleading statements become a frequent occurrence. The EURO 2024 is no exception to this rule. Myth Detector has verified a number of misleading posts and disinformation. Most of them concern the footballers of the Georgian national team.
Read below for a summary of the stories about the European Championship, which Myth Detector checked for misinformation:
DID ROMANIANS CHANT PUTIN’S NAME AND DISPLAY THE FLAG OF THE OCCUPIED DONETSK AT THE EURO 2024 MATCH?
On June 17, Georgian and Russian-speaking Facebook users spread information that during the match between Ukraine and Romania, which took place on the same day, Romanian fans displayed the flag of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and chanted Vladimir Putin’s name. The verification of the material revealed that the photo and video disseminated were fake and altered. The aforementioned flag was not present at the stadium at the time and place indicated in the photo; as for the video, it was also altered by replacing the original sound with the chanting of “Putin,” as confirmed to the fact-checking organization, Open, by one of the fans present there.
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF THE GESTURE MIKAUTADZE MAKES TO CELEBRATE A GOAL?
On June 18, Georges Mikautadze scored a goal in the match between Georgia and Turkey and, traditionally, celebrated this event by ringing both eyes with his index fingers and thumbs. In the following days, several Facebook users posted a photo in which Mikautadze was captured with this gesture and accused the footballer of “venerating Satan.” In particular, they claimed that this gesture expresses the number 666 and is part of Masonic symbolism. In reality, this gesture has nothing to do with Antichrist. It is used by many athletes and is known as “goggles celebration” because it imitates the shape of a goggle. Different athletes use this gesture for various reason; for example, many dedicate goals to family members who wear eyeglasses. In addition, the administrator of the Geo-team sports page, which often publishes interviews with Georgian footballers, explained to Myth Detector that Mikautadze’s celebration is not linked to Masonic or Satanic symbols but has an “I am watching you” connotation.
DID GIORGI MAMARDASHVILI REALLY SAY THAT THE TEAM EMBARRASED GEORGIAN FANS?
On June 20, Facebook users actively spread information that Giorgi Mamardashvili, the Georgian national team’s goalkeeper, said: “I am upset not because we lost. I am upset because people spent all their salaries to watch football and we embarrassed them.” In fact, the footballer never said or posted anything like this on social media. The quote could not be found in open sources. The falsity of this information was confirmed to Myth Detector by the press service of the national team.
It is worth noting that after the match against the national team of Turkey, the Georgian goalkeeper’s statement was, in fact, much more positive: “A debut game at @euro2024, which we will all remember. I am proud of my team and my people! A game where everyone saw that we will never give up! Thanks for your support.”
DID TEMUR KETSBAIA REALLY SAY THAT BUDU ZIVZIVADZE HAD BEEN “BLOCKED”?
On June 23, Georgian-speaking Facebook users disseminated a quote of a veteran Georgian footballer and current head coach of the Cypriot football team, Temur Ketsbaia, about the national team forward Budu Zivzivadze: “It’s a pity that Budu did not take part in any of the matches; Budu is a patriot, and everyone knows full well why this happened. Because Russia is an aggressor country, Budu has been blocked.” In fact, Ketsbaia has never made such a statement, and it cannot be found in open sources. On his personal social media account, Ketsbaia posted two comments – on June 19 and June 21, in which he stressed the good game of the Georgian national team, and praised the Georgian fans. However, he did not mention Zivzivadze or any other footballer in them. Besides, such a statement would have been incorrect because the striker joined the match against Turkey at the end of the second half and played about 12 minutes.
FAKE QUOTE ATTRIBUTED TO CRISTIANO RONALDO AFTER THE GEORGIA VS PORTUGAL MATCH
After the Georgian national team scored a historic victory over Portugal and advanced from the group to the round of 16, a fake quote attributed to Cristiano Ronaldo was disseminated on social network: “The only thing I can say is that today we played against a team that can become a champion.” In reality, no such statement was made by the footballer, and it cannot be found in open sources. After the match, a number of comments from Portuguese footballers about the match were disseminated, but the legendary forward’s assessment was not among them. Bernardo Silva, the winger for Manchester City and the Portugal national team, emphasized in his interview that Cristiano does not like to suffer defeat and is therefore, very upset; each person copes with the emotions caused by a defeat in their own way.
WHAT ARE THE SYMBOLS ON FOOTBAL PLAYERS’ UNIFORMS?
On June 19, Facebook user Fantina Fantina posted two photos: one shows Giorgi Kochorashvilli and Giorgi Mikautadze during the match between Georgia and Turkey, and the other shows the official logo of EURO 2024. The Facebook user compares this logo to the colors of the LGBTQ+ flag and calls it the “Gay EU” logo. However, this logo has nothing to do with either the EU or the LGBTQ+ theme. According to UEFA, the EURO 2024 logo is created from all the color combinations in the flags of the 55 member states of the European Football Association, in the shape of the roof of the Berlin Olympic Stadium. The cup featured in the center is the trophy that the winner of the championship will receive, while the 24 colored slices around the trophy represent the 24 teams competing in the tournament.
DID THE SIMPSONS PREDICT GEORGIA’S PARTICIPATION IN EURO 2024 AND THE SCORE OF THE GEORGIA VS TURKEY MATCH?
A few days after the Georgian national football team qualified for EURO 2024, information spread, accompanied by a video, that one of the episodes of the famous animated sitcom The Simpsons showed the 2024 European Championship in which the national flag of Georgia can be seen in the stadium. The same video was posted before the first match of the Georgian national team at EURO 2024, alleging that The Simpsons predicted the score of the match against Turkey’s national team. When seen from afar, the aforementioned flag can indeed be confused with the flag of Georgia, but it is actually the flag of one of England’s fan clubs. Besides, it should be noted that, according to the plot of the sitcom, the episode shows not the European Championship 2024 but the match between Manchester United and Southampton, held in 1985, where the fans unfurled different flags, and this episode has nothing to do with either Georgia or the European tournament.
WHAT IS THE TEAM REALLY FIGHTING FOR, ACCORDING TO KOCHORASHVILI’S STATEMENT – FOR MONEY OR FOR POINTS?
On June 20, a Facebook user posted an interview with Giorgi Kochorashvili, in which he spoke about the match against the Turkish national team. The Facebook user claimed that the footballer said the following phrase: “We are fighting for money.” In reality, the Georgian midfielder said that the national team is fighting for points, while the entire fragment in the video goes as follows: “The fact that the goalkeeper [Mamardashvili] came out of the goal is an example showing that we fight for points, not to lose something.” It is worth noting that the author of the post later wrote in response to one of the comments that it appeared Kochorashvili “said points, seems to be talking about points.”
WHAT FAKE QUOTE IS BEING SPREAD UNDER THE NAME OF DIANA JOJUA?
On June 27, a photo of a journalist for the Mtavari TV channel, Diana Jojua, was disseminated on Facebook with the caption, “Big shame! The Georgian Dream bribed UEFA to make Georgian people happy for the elections.” The post gives the impression that this statement belongs to the journalist; however, it is not, and the quote is false. After the historic victory over the national team of Portugal on June 26, Diana Jojua spoke only positively about the Georgian team in the news program. She did not utter the phrase that has been circulating on Facebook, and did not express any similar opinion.
DID PFIZER VACCINE PREVENT SABA LOBZHANIDZE FROM SCORING A GOAL?
In the last minute of the match between the national teams of Georgia and the Czech Republic on June 22, Saba Lobzhanidze missed a chance to score a goal by shooting past the goal. The next day, the Facebook page Christian Mothers posted a message that Lobzhanidze was shot with a Pfizer vaccine, and that’s why he failed to score a goal. Some Facebook users took this post seriously, although “Christian Mothers” is a satirical page that has been publishing such posts for years, and therefore, the post about Saba Lobzhanidze was also satirical.
