An old video of supporters throwing flares and causing a ruckus at a stadium in Germany's Hamburg has been falsely shared as a fire mishap from the ongoing FIFA World Cup 2022, Qatar.
BOOM found that the viral video shows visuals of supporters lighting flares, a product used to produce smoke and fire, and throwing them at the stadium and field causing a cloud of smoke; The fans created the chaos after former European champions Hamburg SV were relegated from a German football tournament for the first time in several years in May, 2018.
According to reports, a fire broke out at noon at an under-construction building at Qatar's Lusail island on November 26. The accident spot is 3.5km away from Lusail Stadium where a world cup match was scheduled later in the evening on Saturday. The video has been shared in this backdrop.
The video has been captioned in Hindi as, "Terrible fire at the World Cup stadium!! The danger and intensity of the fire break out is increasing, red alert has been issued across Qatar."
(Original caption in Hindi: विश्व कप स्टेडियम में भयानक आग !!आग की गंभीरता बढ़ती जा रही है और खतरनाक होती जा रही है, पूरे कतर में रेड अलर्ट।)
View the video here.
The same video also has been shared with captions in Bangla. View here.
Fact Check
BOOM ran a reverse image search on Google using keyframes of the viral video and found several reports about the 2018 incident.
National News published a report with images of the fire mishap on May 12, 2018 with the title "Supporters throw flares as Hamburg relegated from Bundesliga for first time."
One of the captions with the image reads as, "HSV supporters light flares during the German Bundesliga soccer match between Hamburger SV and Borussia Moenchengladbach in Hamburg, Germany, on May 12, 2018"
Taking a cue from this, we ran a keywords search on YouTube and found several news reports about the incident.
DW Kick Off uploaded the video on May 14, 2018 and titled it as, "Hamburg in flames: Fans riot after relegation | Bundesliga Highlights".
The same video was uploaded on YouTube by "4S-TV" on May 12, 2018.
Express reported on May 12, 2018 that Hamburg fans sparked chaos following their side's relegation from the Bundesliga, Germany's primary football tournament. The supporters of Hamburg SV created the chaos and threw flares on the field to halt the match against Borussia Monchengladbach. The fans lit the flares and eventually smoke engulfed the premises at the Volksparkstadion, a football stadium in Hamburg, Germany, and the home of Hamburger SV.
According to a DW report even some supporters threw fireworks on the field. Read the Guardian's report here.