Claim: A video shows a cat dangling from a spectators’ deck in a Qatar stadium and later saved by fans standing below during the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Fact: The video is unrelated to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar and is, in fact, from the United States, where fans caught the cat in an American flag during a Miami Hurricanes football game in 2021.
On 29 November 2022, ARY News anchorperson Sabir Shakir posted a video of a cat hanging precariously in a stadium before falling and being saved by fans standing below.
Shakir claimed the video is from the 2022 FIFA World Cup; he captioned it as follows:
“قطر فٹ بال سٹیڈیم بلی کی جان کیسے بچی؟
جسے اللہ رکھے۔۔۔۔غور کیجیے
[How was the life of a cat saved in Qatar football stadium?
Whoever is protected by God… Pay attention]”
Fact or Fiction?
Soch Fact Check used reverse image search tools to identify the source of the clip.
We found the video is completely unrelated to the 2022 FIFA World Cup and actually from Hard Rock Stadium in Miami, Florida. The incident occurred during a Miami Hurricanes football game.
The clip was posted by NBC News on YouTube on 13 September 2021 and Danny Rabinowitz, The Joe Rose Show’s executive producer, on Twitter. The version shared by Sabir Shakir is the one uploaded by India Today’s News Mo channel on YouTube.
According to Yahoo! Sports, “A stray cat somehow made its way to the top level at the stadium during No. 22 Miami’s 25-23 win over Appalachian State, but then slipped over the edge and was hanging on by just its paws.” It was later rescued.
Virality
Soch Fact Check found that the video was posted here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here, as well as here, where it was viewed more than 74,000 times.
We also used the Arabic phrase — “في قطر كديسه قررت تنتحر بس ما ريحوها الخوجات وحموها من الموت و فعلا كأس العالم عالم جميل [In Qatar, she decided to commit suicide, but the khawajat did not comfort her and protect her from death. Indeed, the World Cup is a beautiful world]” — in Facebook’s organic search and found the video here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here.
The clip also appeared on YouTube here, here, and here.
On Twitter, it was shared here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. The one in Sabir Shakir’s tweet was viewed upwards of 154,500 times.
Conclusion: The video is, in fact, from the United States, where fans caught the cat in an American flag during a Miami Hurricanes football game in 2021. It is not related to the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.