An image of Spanish footballer Lamine Yamal grinning widely with the World Cup tucked under his arm and a Palestinian flag draped over his shoulders has garnered millions of views on social media. It turns out, however, that the image is a fake. 

The image, first posted the night after Spain won the 2026 FIFA World Cup, has been picked up and shared by a wide variety of accounts. Just one X post featuring the image – a post by Palestinian journalist Mohamed Al Masri – had garnered more than 1.9 million views by late afternoon on July 20.

The photo has also circulated widely on Facebook. 

An image generated with the help of ChatGPT

However, this image of Yamal was created using ChatGPT, the artificial intelligence chatbot owned by the company OpenAI. SynthID, Google’s tool to identify AI-generated content, was able to detect that the image contains a hidden watermark showing that it was generated by “OpenAI’s tools”, i.e. ChatGPT.

SynthID was originally created to detect images generated using Nano Banana, Google’s AI image generator. Now, it can also detect images generated by ChatGPT. To check an image, you just upload it to OpenAI’s verification site.

The AI-generated image was made using a real photo of Lamine Yamal originally published by Spanish newspaper El País in their live feed covering the World Cup final. You can see that his smile is the same, as is his grasp on the World Cup trophy. His headband is the same, too.

Another video captures the exact moment when Yamal struck this pose with the trophy. 

Lamine Yamal’s real support for the Palestinian cause 

While the image that has been circulating online was created using artificial intelligence, Lamine Yamal does actually support the Palestinian cause. His position on the matter has stirred some controversy. 

On May 11, players from FC Barcelona – Yamal’s club – were riding on an open-top bus through the streets of the city as part of a parade celebrating their La Liga championship win against their rival, Real Madrid. 

As the bus moved through the overjoyed crowd, someone held up a Palestinian flag to Yamal. Yamal took it and then waved it over his head. 

The video immediately stirred up controversy on social media, with some commending the player’s position, while others condemned him. Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz accused Yamal of “inciting hatred towards Israel and the Jewish people”. 

For his part, the young football star posted an image on social media of himself holding the flag, a post that seems to indicate he stands by the gesture.

Pedro Porro: another Spanish player falsely accused of wearing a Palestinian flag  

Several social media posts that garnered tens of thousands of views claimed that Spanish player Pedro Porro was also decked out in a Palestinian flag while celebrating the team’s World Cup win.

Images show Porro receiving his medal with a green, black and white flag tied around his waist. At first glance, it does look a bit like the Palestinian flag. 

In reality, the player was wearing a flag from his home region: the autonomous community of Extremadura, located in western Spain. The player has shown his love for the region on multiple occasions and spoken about his regional identity.  

It appears that instead of wearing a Palestinian flag, Pedro Porro was just showing some hometown pride. 

This article has been translated from the original in French by Brenna Daldorph.

Topps is creating a trading card of what became a famous photo during the World Cup of Argentina’s Lionel Messi holding Spain’s Lamine Yamal, the company said Monday.

Messi, whom many consider soccer’s greatest player, was photographed holding Yamal, then an infant and now a 19-year-old rising star. The two met in Sunday’s final, with Yamal and Spain defeating Messi and Argentina 1-0.

That game was a potential changing of the guard with the 39-year-old Messi perhaps playing in his final World Cup.

Playing for Barcelona at the time of the initial meeting with Yamal, Messi took part in a fundraising drive for UNICEF and wound up holding the player who could be the future face of the sport. Yamal has followed in Messi’s footsteps by becoming Barcelona’s standout player.

Reporting by The Associated Press

Rangers and Celtic face disciplinary charges over the unrest that followed their Scottish Cup meeting at Ibrox in March.

The Scottish Football Association has issued identical notices of complaints to both clubs as it published the independent review on the events surrounding the quarter-final tie.

Both are accused of breaching the SFA’s rule 37, which centres on “good order and security” and “unacceptable conduct”.

The rule covers “policies and procedures” and whether clubs take appropriate measures to identify and deal with supporters who engage in unacceptable conduct.

The clubs face hearings on 13 August.

There were clashes on the pitch after eventual cup-winners Celtic prevailed via a penalty shoot-out on 8 March.

Some visiting fans spilled onto the playing surface to celebrate, with home supporters then trying to confront them as fireworks were thrown back and forth.

At least 37 people have been arrested over the trouble, which resulted in injuries to police and stewards.

Meanwhile, the review describes the events of 8 March as as “a near miss”, saying the ugly scenes “came within a very small margin of becoming a violent mass confrontation”.

Lead author Mark Blackbourne also states that a “crushing incident was a real and foreseeable risk” due to “noncompliant Ultra group fans surging past police and stewards”.

The report adds: “Ultra groups exercise a power over clubs and the wider supporter base that is disproportionate to their size” and that “there seems to be no independent external scrutiny of the clubs’ or Police Scotland’s operational plans for high-risk fixtures”.

It is also pointed out that “the current sanctions framework holds individuals accountable but largely insulates clubs from the consequences of their supporters’ behaviour”, saying this provides “insufficient motivation” to curb the problem.

The review calls for stronger sanctions, suggesting the SFA “has the disciplinary powers to act more severely than they have done but have chosen not to use them”.

An independent SFA judicial panel will consider the review, with chief executive Ian Maxwell saying: “We will work together with the SPFL, clubs, Police Scotland and Scottish government to ensure no repeat of the events that tarnished the image and reputation of the game.”

Former UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez is confident that Islam Makhachev will continue dominating the sport as the welterweight champion defends the belt at UFC 330.

Makhachev won the welterweight title by dismantling Jack Della Maddalena at UFC 322 and became a two-division champion.

He held the lightweight title before vacating it, and now faces Ian Machado Garry at UFC 330. While Garry has spoken about how he will demolish the champion, Velasquez doesn’t think anyone can stop Makhachev.

Speaking to Red Corner MMA, the former UFC champion lauded Makhachev for being at the top of the game:

“He’s a special type of athlete. As we all know, he’s one of those guys that are at the pinnacle of this sport here.”

He also praised Makhachev’s coach, Javier Mendez, for making champions:

“I talk with Javier [Mendez] all the time and Islam and those guys are always doing great, so they are in great hands. Javier is the one who builds champions. He’s a master of what he does.”

Velasquez ended by adding that Makhachev will continue to win spectacularly:

“I see Islam continuously doing what he is doing, and that’s winning impressively. He’s somebody who has mastered all aspects of MMA.”

Check out Cain Velasquez’s comments below:

Ali Abdelaziz warns Ian Machado Garry of a beating

Islam Makhachev’s manager, Ali Abdelaziz, sent a major warning to Ian Machado Garry ahead of UFC 330.

Garry has taken several shots at Makhachev and claimed he would become the new welterweight champion. However, Abdelaziz claimed that the Irishman was being hyped up and he would be humbled soon:

“He’s 2-1 in his last three fights. He was almost knocked out by Prates and got saved by the bell. He has 10 wins in the UFC, and 8 of them came by decision. Somebody needs to give this young man a reality check, because he’s about to get smashed.”

Abdelaziz also brought up Garry being compared to Conor McGregor, and warned that this could lead to his downfall:

“And he keeps bringing his name up, comparing himself to Conor. First of all, you’re not Conor. You’ll never be Conor. You might actually be a better person than him, because I think Conor has done a lot of things I don’t respect. Just be who you are. Don’t try to be somebody else.”