Great World Cup mood in Qatar? At least that’s what these “fan marches” suggest Ukraine assumes thousands of Russian soldiers went underground in Kherson

Lionel Messi enters his last major tournament with Argentina. The expectations that his compatriots have of him and his teammates are once again huge, and nothing short of the long-awaited title should finally come. The chances of the “Albiceleste” are certainly there: the Argentines are among the smaller circle of favorites for the title. The expectation among the Argentine fans seems to be correspondingly high.

And so videos are currently circulating on social media of a gathering of Argentine fans marching merrily in Qatar, the host country of the World Cup. And not only the Argentines are looking forward to it. Brazilian, English, Spanish and German fans also seem to have arrived early to celebrate their team.

Only: somehow these fan groups are all quite similar.

The assumption is that these are not real supporters of the Argentinians, British and Germans, but staged performances. Many Twitterers suspect that the fans were paid by the organizers of the World Cup. That has not been proven. But the assumptions are not completely out of the blue. Because the videos look – somehow – a bit artificial.

This Twitter user shares the suspicion. He is writing:

And “Boycott Qatar 2022” writes:

The phenomenon of fake fans is not new

Just over a week ago, the German sports show, citing a letter from the World Cup organizing committee, reported that paid fans in Qatar should ensure a good mood on social media.

That Qatar is not afraid to use fake fans to create atmosphere was already apparent in 2014 during the Qatar Open of international beach volleyball. At the time, the Gulf state paid 150 migrant workers to fill its nearly empty ranks.

They were then seen in the volleyball arena clapping for Daft Punk’s Get Lucky – or simply staring at their phones. The “Guardian” at the time suspected that this was probably because people were also lured with free Wi-Fi.

Numerous people also told the Guardian that they were regularly paid to appear as fans at sporting events. For example, in 2014 20 or 25 riyals (6 francs) were paid for football matches in the Qatar League and even 50 riyals (12.50 francs) for handball.

Aphrodite Moschoudi, who was co-responsible for hosting the 2019 World Championships in Athletics in Qatar, did not want to hear the accusation that many fans were being paid:

The upcoming World Cup will show how passionate the Qataris really are. A relatively large number of tickets are still available for the matches.

(con/yam)