Following the 2022 FIFA World Cup final in which Argentina defeated France to lift the title, a picture is doing the rounds on social media showing West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee presenting the World Cup trophy to Lionel Messi. Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, Emir of Qatar, can be seen in the background.
The caption in Bangla reads: “ঐতিহাসিক মুহুর্তের সাক্ষী থাকল গোটা বিশ্ব। স্বয়ং দিদি নিজে কাপ তুলে দিলেন মেসির হাতে। নীল সাদা রং মিলিয়ে দিল পৃথিবীর দুই প্রান্তকে 💙🤍💙” (English translation: “The whole world witnessed a historical moment. Sister (Mamata Banerjee) herself handed over the Cup to Messi. Blue and white mixed the two ends of the world)
The above post can be seen here.
FACT CHECK
NewsMobile fact-checked the above post, and found it to be FAKE.
Scanning through several images from the presentation ceremony of the FIFA World Cup 2022, we found not even a single picture of Mamata Banerjee attending the event. But running the Reverse Image Search, we identified a Sky Sports article, dated December 19, 2022, featuring the original picture.
In the original picture, it was FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who presented the World Cup trophy to Lionel Messi.
So, it is crystal clear that Gianni Infantino from the original picture has been replaced by Mamata Banerjee, using the photo-editing software.
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