Fact Check: OLD, ALTERED Image Does NOT Show Argentina-England Referee Ismail Elfath 'Asking For A Photo' With Lionel Messi In 2026 -- Or Ever

About this record

This incident page is generated from structured reporting inputs and public sources. It is intended to support tracking and review, not to replace primary source verification.

Incident details

Incident ID: inc_2026_07_14_05588039
Date source: llm_extracted_from_article_text
Country: Qatar
Platform: Social Media
Incident type: Manipulated Photo
Verification level: reported_but_unverified

Harm types

Misinformation

Topics

Image Manipulation

Summary

A viral image circulated on social media claiming to show Argentina-England referee Ismail Elfath asking for a photo with Lionel Messi during a 2026 FIFA World Cup match. Yahoo Sports fact-checked the claim and determined the image was digitally cropped and produced in 2022 for the Argentina-France World Cup Final, predating the alleged 2026 event by four years. The cropped image removed the opposing team captain who was originally posing with Messi and other officials for a standard pre-match photograph.

Sources

Fact Check: OLD, ALTERED Image Does NOT Show Argentina-England Referee Ismail Elfath 'Asking For A Photo' With Lionel Messi In 2026 -- Or Ever

sports.yahoo.com · 2026-07-16 · Primary