Indonesian posts share doctored video alongside false claim Guinea removed from 2024 Olympics

FIFA has not disqualified Guinea from the 2024 Olympics, contrary to false posts sharing an edited video that alleges world football's governing body removed the African country for cheating in a qualifier against Indonesia on May 9. The video, which has been viewed hundreds of thousands of times, misuses old and unrelated clips of FIFA president Gianni Infantino.

"Thank you FIFA president!! FIFA immediately removed Guinea from the Paris Olympics due to this issue?" read the title of a YouTube video uploaded on May 11, 2024.

The video's description said Guinea was disqualified "for cheating", and FIFA president Gianni Infantino made the announcement after it was "proven" their win over Indonesia's Under-23 national team in an Olympics qualifying match was unfair.

The eight-minute video, which was viewed more than 236,000 times, contained various clips of Infantino speaking at events and scenes from football matches.

After the disqualification claim is repeated at the video's 13-second mark, it shows a clip of Infantino saying in English: "With me, with FIFA, you will find open doors. Just push the doors."

It then cuts to the FIFA president saying: "We should be apologising for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons."

At the one-minute, 27-second mark, the Indonesian-language narration claims Infantino said: "We cannot tolerate unfairness or manipulation in the game we love. This decision confirms our commitment to integrity and fairness in football."

The claim surfaced after Indonesia's hopes of qualifying for the Olympics football tournament for the first time in nearly seven decades ended with a 1-0 defeat to Guinea.

After Guinea secured their spot at the Olympics, some Indonesian fans bombarded the African nation's social media accounts as well as those of its top players with racist comments, prompting the Indonesian football association to apologise.

Similar false claims circulated elsewhere on YouTube here and here, racking up more than 600,000 views in total.

But Guinea have not been disqualified, and the clips of Infantino's speeches used in the video are old and unrelated.

A schedule of fixtures posted on the Olympics website shows Guinea will play against New Zealand on July 24, France on July 27 and the United States on July 30 (archived link).

As of June 7, there have been no official announcements of Guinea's disqualification from either FIFA or the International Olympic Committee.

Unrelated clips

Reverse image and keyword searches found the first Infantino clip was taken from a BBC video posted on August 18, 2023, when he was speaking about equality during the Women's World Cup in Australia (archived link).

He does not mention Guinea's football team at any point.

The clip corresponds to the BBC video's 13-second mark, where Infantino says: "I said to all the women that you have the power to change. Pick the right battles. Pick the right fights. You have the power to change. You have the power to convince us men what we have to do and what you don’t have to do.

"You do it. Just do it. With me, with FIFA, you will find open doors. Just push the doors. They are open."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip used in the false YouTube video (left) and the BBC video (right):

The comments -- which were criticised for being patronising -- were widely reported in the media (archived links here and here).

The next clip of Infantino corresponds to a video published by Canada's Global News on November 19, 2022, which shows the FIFA president accusing critics of Qatar's human rights record of hypocrisy ahead of the 2022 World Cup there (archived link).

The quote used in the false video corresponds to the 23-second mark of the Global News video, where he says: "We are told many, many lessons from some Europeans. From the Western world. I'm European. Actually I am European, not just I feel European.

"I think for what we Europeans have been doing in the last 3,000 years around the world, we should be apologising for the next 3,000 years before starting to give moral lessons."

Below is a screenshot comparison of the clip used in the false YouTube video (left) and the Global News video (right):

The full transcript of his speech is on FIFA's website (archived link).

AFP found no official reports of Infantino talking about "unfairness and manipulation" after the match between Guinea and Indonesia on FIFA's website or his personal Instagram account (archived links here and here).

Instead, in a post on May 10, he told Indonesian fans to "be proud of your team and keep supporting them with the same passion", emphasising that the national team lost by a "very narrow margin" (archived link).

The false YouTube video also contained clips of other speeches by Infantino from 2023 and 2016, but without audio.

Two of the clips were taken when he was re-elected as FIFA president on March 16, 2023, and can be seen in videos published by British broadcaster Sky News here and by AFP here (archived links here and here).

A third clip of Infantino was published by the FOX Soccer channel on February 27, 2016, and shows him giving his first speech as FIFA president (archived link).

It also included other unrelated scenes, including an image of Infantino taken during a joint press conference with Indonesian President Joko Widodo in October 2022, and a clip of him sending a message to the Indonesian Football Association's (PSSI) congress in November 2019 (archived links here and here).

AFP has debunked a separate false claim that FIFA ordered a rematch between Indonesia and Guinea.