No, Putin Did Not Slam FIFA for Not Qualifying Algeria and Russia for the World Cup
The Claim
Russian President Vladimir Putin has slammed FIFA for failing to qualify Russia and Algeria for the World Cup.
News posted on
Emerging story
Social media users recently circulated a statement attributed to Russian President Vladimir Putin on Russia's RT channel, in which he expressed his disappointment with FIFA for excluding Russia from the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Users also claimed that in response to FIFA, Putin would hold a mini-World Cup in conjunction with the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, which will include Algeria and Egypt.
Misbar’s Analysis
Misbar investigated the circulating claim and found it to be false. The statement circulating attributed to Russia's President is false. Putin has not made a statement in this regard, nor has it been posted on the Kremlin's Twitter account, nor has it been reported by any credible news sources.
RT's Arabic website, which was attributed to the circulated claim, was found to have no recent statements attributed to Putin about a plot that brought down the Algerian national team and prevented it from qualifying for the World Cup.
The claim began circulating days after Cameroon qualified for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar by defeating Algeria 2-0 in a match on March 29, 2022.
The Algerian Football Federation issued a statement on April 6 confirming that FIFA's plot against the Algerian national team and its Cameroonian counterpart in the second leg of the 2022 Qatar World Cup qualifiers was referred to the FIFA Disciplinary Committee for consideration on Thursday, April 21.
FIFA has previously sanctioned Russia in response to its invasion of Ukraine. It barred Russia from participating in the 2022 World Cup qualifiers. The Russian team advanced to face the Polish team in the elimination matches in the European qualifiers. Following Russia's elimination, Poland faced Sweden and won 2-0 to qualify for the finals.
Translated by Wesam Abo Marq
