A Dec. 11 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) claims a new rule has been implemented for the upcoming 2025 FIFA World Cup tournament.
“Exclusive: Pride Flags Banned at 2025 FIFA Club World Cup – No More Woke Pride,” text in the post reads.
The Facebook post was shared more than 200 times in a week. Similar versions of the claim circulated on Threads.
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There is no evidence pride flags have been banned at the 2025 FIFA World Cup. The claim originated from a Facebook account that shares satirical content but is presented as an authentic news development.
The FIFA Club World Cup, the largest global club tournament in soccer, is coming to the U.S. beginning in June 2025, with 32 professional teams playing in 11 cities across the country. Contrary to the post’s claim, however, organizers did not announce a ban on the pride flag at those matches.
There is no record of an announcement of a ban on the website where FIFA, which is organizing the tournament, publishes its news releases. Nor is there evidence of an announcement from Major League Soccer, the sport’s top professional league in the U.S. Of the 12 stadiums hosting tournament matches, seven are MLS venues. There are likewise no credible news reports about such a development.
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A similar version of the claim originated in a Nov. 15 Facebook post from The Patriots Lovers, an affiliate of the SpaceXMania network of satirical accounts. Its intro page identifies it as a producer of satirical and parody content. In both the Nov. 15 post and a longer article linked in the comments, the ban is attributed to MLS, not FIFA. But the post, the image and the longer story each include labels that identify them as satire or a fabrication. The Dec. 11 Facebook post contains no such label.
That post is an example of what could be called “stolen satire,” where stories originally written and presented as satire are captured and reposted in a way that makes them appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, which is what happened here.
USA TODAY previously debunked false claims that billionaire Elon Musk called for schools to ban the pride flag, that Tennessee passed a law banning the pride flag in schools and that President Joe Biden violated U.S. Flag Code during a Pride Month event at the White House.
PolitiFact, Lead Stories and The Journal FactCheck of Ireland also debunked the claim.
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