![[FACT-CHECK] Video from Poland misrepresented as Ronaldo fans at World Cup](https://mediaconnect.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/4bb4a16b15b44cf1e99afb5d67cdc54973308846-ipad_resized.jpg)
“FIFA loves Messi, but the world loves Ronaldo,” says a July 4, 2026 post on Instagram, which shows a massive crowd jumping and chanting in a city square at night.
Similar posts claiming to show an homage to Ronaldo rocketed across platforms such as Facebook and X, with some
of the videos also purporting to feature audio of people singing the Portugal national football team legend’s name.
Others shared a slightly different angle of the same celebration.
The posts came in the leadup to Portugal’s loss to Spain in the last 16, a 1-0 defeat that marked the end of what the 41-year-old — who plays club football for Saudia Arabia’s Al-Nassr FC — said would be his final World Cup.
But the videos do not show gatherings related to the tournament.
Reverse image searches traced the first video to a Kraków-based photographer who posted it as early as May 24 to Facebook, Instagram, X and YouTube, with captions saying it showed fans of Wisła Kraków celebrating the Polish football club’s promotion to the nation’s top league, Ekstraklasa (archived here, here, here and here).
The photographer’s Instagram post was shared jointly with the team’s verified account, which also published other shots
of the crowd.
The second video, of the same scene from another angle, originated with another Polish photographer who similarly described it on Facebook and Instagram as showing Wisła Kraków fans on May 24 (archived here and here). The photographer’s watermark is visible in some of the posts misrepresenting the footage.
The videos show the crowd singing, in Polish, a song affiliated with the club, an AFP journalist based in Poland confirmed.
AFP also distributed photos on May 24 that show the same crowd.
Google Street View imagery from Kraków’s Main Square shows the same statue, basilica and church as in the videos, confirming the location (archived here).
AFP previously debunked other misinformation about Ronaldo’s 2026 World Cup campaign here.
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