• Footage depicts fights between Afghan & Pakistani cricket fans in 2019, not at 2022 Asia Cup.
• Cricket supporters from Pakistan and Afghanistan got into a fight at a World Cup game in England.
• Facebook posts using the video received thousands of views.

In posts that have been viewed millions of times, there is video purporting to show cricket fans punching each other. The video was allegedly captured during fights between fans at an Asia Cup match between Afghan & Pakistan in September 2022.

But in June 2019, when cricket supporters from Pakistan and Afghanistan got into a fight at a World Cup game in England, the footage started to circulate online.

A Facebook post uploaded on September 8 with the subject line “Pakistan vs Afghanistan cricket fan fighting 2022” was written in Bengali and English.

In the video, cricket supporters can be seen punching and throwing things at one another in a stadium.

Similar Facebook posts using the video received thousands of views.

The messages came to light when Pakistan’s cricket chief Ramiz Raja denounced “hooliganism” that broke out on September 7 at the United Arab Emirates-hosted 2022 Asia Cup following a match between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

As tempers flared, the action moved from the field to the stands. Videos of Afghan supporters ripping off chairs and hurling them towards Pakistan supporters have since gone viral.

Fight breaks out between fans of Afghanistan and Pakistan cricket team at the #Headingley cricket stadium in Leeds after Pakistan betas Afghanistan. Poor level of security. Such scenes should never be allowed pic.twitter.com/l0rJAerXO9

— Murtaza Ali Shah (@MurtazaViews) June 29, 2019

However, the online posts that are going around feature an old video.

The video was discovered through keyword and reverse image searches in an article about Pakistani and Afghan cricket supporters fighting at the World Cup in 2019.

“Shocking new footage emerges of Pakistan and Afghanistan fans brawling at Cricket World Cup,” reports.

According to the investigation, the altercations happened on June 29, 2019, at Leeds’ Headingley Cricket Ground.

At the time, the video and screenshots from it were widely disseminated online, among them here and here.

Murtaza Ali Shah, a journalist from Pakistan, posted video of the altercation from a different perspective.

The hoisting of a flag over the ground that said “Justice for Balochistan” reportedly caused the rioting, which spread to the stadium’s exterior.

“We do not condone any form of political messaging at the ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup,” the organization that governs the sport said.

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