Several Facebook and Twitter users have posted an image of a football ground surrounded by trees. As per social media claims, the football ground is from Ukhrul in Manipur. A Twitter user @biswajitroy2009 posted the viral image along with the text, “The beautiful football ground is not in Europe but in Ukhrul, Manipur, India. Exceptionally beautiful!!!” This tweet has over 3,000 likes as of this writing.
Similarly, many Facebook users also posted the viral image.
Fact-check
Alt News performed a reverse image search on Google and learned that near-identical pictures have been posted on multiple websites. In fact, Google’s autogenerated keywords prompted ‘russia moscow football ground’.
The ground is indeed from Russia. As per a blog on Medium, the ground in the viral images shows the Meshchersky Park also know as the Forest Pitch in Moscow. The image on the blog has been shot from a different angle.
Alt News found that the viral image was uploaded on Google Maps in 2017. As per Google Maps, the ground is called Forest Soccer Field and it is less than 2 kilometres away from the Meshchersky Park
Alt News also found stock images and footage of the said football ground on Shutterstock.
The social media claim that the football ground in the image is in Ukhrul, Manipur is false. It’s located in Moscow, Russia.
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