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Claim: An X user, via a video, claimed that Liverpool fans were allegedly clearing a snow-filled Anfield football pitch amidst a match.
Verdict: False. The snow-covered pitch alleged to be Anfield is a pitch in Zurich, where Football Club Zurich Ultras made efforts to clear the pitch of snow so that the game between FC Zurich Ultras and St Gallen could continue.
Full Text
On Jan 5, 2025, the current Premier League table leaders, Liverpool, hosted domestic league rival Manchester United, which witnessed both sides share equal points after a 2-2 match outcome.
Before the clash, there were strong considerations to postpone the match over adverse snowfall that could threaten the public.
Amidst the severe weather situation, an X user, Ebby (@SpecialistMecca), claimed in a 41-second video clip that Liverpool fans were clearing the football pitch at Anfield—Liverpool’s sports arena—to allow the match to continue.
The video clip showed workers sweeping off snow ice off the pitch while spectators continued to cheer the collective swift efforts.
As of Thursday, Jan. 15, 2025, the post has generated over 2 million views, 197 comments, 740 retweets, 8,000 likes, and 485 bookmarks.
Many X users queried the video, categorically responding that the soccer pitch portrayed is not Anfield or anything like it.
“Not Anfield,” Ibam (@imzyii) dismissed.
“If only you knew what Anfield looks like, you wouldn’t have embarrassed yourself posting this video,” Felix Junior (Felix_PHO) criticised.
“That’s Grasshopper Zurich.” Andrew Coop (@Andycoop71) pointed out.
Due to the contrary responses and the large number of engagements the post has attracted, DUBAWA decided to verify it.
Verification
Following a trail of comments in the comment section, we conducted a Google keyword search to see if any matches played in Zurich, Switzerland, witnessed snowfall cleanup. We found a similar video on YouTube with the same content as the one shared by the X user.
The video, which was shared by a YouTube channel, Ultras Life— an over 18,000-subscriber football fan channel— is titled “Südkurve – FCZürich Ultras clearing the pitch | FC Zürich – St. Gallen interrupted 21.4.2024.”
The football channel described the situation as “one of the best moments of the season,” explaining that Football Club Zurich tried to clear the pitch of snowfall so that the club’s game against FC St Gallen could continue.
Although little publicity was given to the incident, DUBAWA found that Football Tweet (@Football_Tweet) shared a similar video on April 24, 2024. The football content X account, which has over a million followers, wrote that the FC Zurich and St Gallen match was interrupted by snow, making the pitch “impassable.” It further detailed that the Zurich ultras quickly made efforts to clear the snow-covered pitch to allow the game to continue.
Meanwhile, credible media outlets did not report that snowfall disrupted the Liverpool-Manchester United clash on Jan. 5, 2025.
Conclusion
Our findings reveal that the snow-covered pitch incident linked to Liverpool’s sports arena, Anfield, happened during FC Zurich’s clash with St Gallen.
