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Apart from the largely viewed football leagues across Europe and the new-look Club World Cup, the Nations League and the Women’s African Cup of Nations were among the spectacular football tournaments that made headlines in 2025.
During the year, the football world saw several assumptions, assertions, and claims about players, clubs, and even countries that were later proven to be false.
DUBAWA compiled five of the most ridiculous sports misinformation fact-checked in 2025.
- FIFA banned South Africa, other countries from 2026 World Cup
A news outlet on Facebook claimed that the Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) banned South Africa and two other countries from the World Cup for political reasons.
The news outlet listed Russia, South Africa, and Yugoslavia as the countries the international football governing body banned from participating in the World Cup.
During the verification process, DUBAWA noticed that the headline shared on Facebook misrepresented the details reported on the news website. The news article referenced South Africa’s suspension in 1961 and 1976, though FIFA had since readmitted the country. While there was a recent sanction on South Africa, FIFA announced that South Africa secured a return to the FIFA World Cup and would participate in the 2026 tournament.
Although Yugoslavia was banned in the early 1990s due to the United Nations sanctions during the Yugoslav Wars, Yugoslavia broke up in 2003 into the federated union of Serbia and Montenegro.
Findings showed that only Russia remains banned from competing in the World Cup due to its invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Read more here.
2. Incorrect lyrics shared by X influencer falsely portray French players
An X influencer shared a video clip of the French national team, which won the 2018 World Cup, jubilating with their World Cup trophy as they danced to Satchela Djedje’s (popularly known as Vegedream) song, “Ramenez la coupe à la Maison.”
The song shared by the X influencer reads, “Who carries money over success? Kylian Mbappe… Who spends half of their season in the hospital? Ousmane Dembele… Who’s overrated and has the worst dance moves? Paulo Paul Pogba…”
However, DUBAWA found the original French lyrics translated into English. Contrary to the viral claim, we found the song was acknowledging the French national team’s heroics for winning the World Cup 20 years after it won the trophy in 1998.
In the original version, the singer hailed Samuel Umtiti for his strides on the field and celebrated Benjamin Mendy for always coming to the team’s rescue. Blaise Matuidi was praised for controlling the pitch, Mbappe for his acceleration, nutmeg, and strike, Ousmane Dembele for his ability to shoot with both feet, Paul Pogba for his ability to secure the midfield, and Antoine Griezmann for being a successful penalty shooter. Read more here.
3. VON gaffed in declaring Morocco WAFCON champions
During the year, the news outlet Voice of Nigeria went viral for its report stating that Morocco defeated Nigeria in the final match of the Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON).
The news article’s headline read, “Morocco defeats Nigeria to win first-ever WAFCON title.”
However, DUBAWA noticed that the story was published before the match concluded.
Contrary to what VON reported, Nigeria became the tournament’s winner after a hard-fought comeback. DUBAWA further subjected the report’s text to the AI-detector tool, Quilbot, and it indicated a 51 per cent influence of artificial intelligence in it.
The director-general of VON, Jibrin Ndace, also admitted that the report was inaccurate. Read more here.
4. Liverpool fans in Nigeria held procession for Diogo Jota
On July 3, 2025, Liverpool forward and Portugal international Diogo Jota died in an auto accident alongside his younger brother André Silva in Zamora, Spain.
A viral video shared on Facebook showed a group of people dressed in Liverpool jerseys marching solemnly, suggesting that Nigerian fans were mourning the late football star.
However, a closer view of the banner carried by the mourners revealed that it read “Northern Uganda Liverpool Fans”, which contradicted the viral claim. Further checks by DUBAWA using Google search showed that Ugandan radio station Kampala Radiocity 97FM shared the video on its verified Instagram account.
The post read, “Liverpool fans in Gulu held a procession this morning to honour their fallen forward Diogo Jota, who passed away in a car accident on Thursday, together with his brother Andre.”
Checks indicate that Gulu is located in Northern Uganda. Read more here.
5. Man City’s Ederson is only Premier League goalkeeper to achieve GWR title
An X user claimed that former Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson de Moraes is the only English Premier League (EPL) goalkeeper to hold a Guinness World Record (GWR) title. Recall that Ederson had bagged a GWR title for the longest football drop kick.
DUBAWA conducted a keyword search for EPL goalkeepers who have achieved the title aside from Ederson. Findings showed that Petr Cech, who played for Chelsea (2004-2015) and Arsenal (2015-2019), had a GWR title for keeping the most clean sheets.
He is also a joint title holder of the most Golden Glove awards in the English Premier League, alongside former England international and City goalkeeper Joe Hart. Moreover, Cech is the only goalkeeper to have won the Premier League Golden Glove with two clubs: Chelsea and Arsenal.
Former Netherlands international and Manchester United goalkeeper Edwin Van der Sar holds the GWR for the longest minutes played in the Premier League without conceding a goal.
Similarly, Tim Krul and David de Gea hold the world record for most saves in a single match in the Premier League. Read more here.
