[FALSE] Does this video show that the Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona commented on the China national football team?

Screenshot of the Facebook post.

The Claim and Our Verdict

• The claim:A video was shared Feb. 2, 2022, on Facebook, along with a claim that it shows the Argentine soccer great Diego Maradona commented on the China national football team.
• Fact-checking:
  • According to the Chinese-language subtitles superimposed on the footage, the reporter asked Maradona for comment on the China men’s national football team, but Maradona hesitated and did not give a clear response. The subtitles, however, were wrongly translated.
  • The video actually shows an interview with Maradona by ESPN in 2018. The ESPN reporter asked Maradona for comment on the MX league, rather than the China national football team. Therefore, Maradona was not responding to the question about the China national football team.
• Our ruling: We rate the claim as FALSE.

News Brief

A video was shared Feb. 2, 2022, on Facebook, along with a claim that it shows Maradona commented on the China national football team.

According to Chinese-language subtitles superimposed on the footage, the reporter asked Maradona for comment on the China men’s national football team, but Maradona hesitated and did not give a clear response.

As of the issuance of this report, the post had been shared 14 times, and had received 21 comments and 145 likes or reactions.

Fact-checking

A keyword search found the video was extracted from a longer news report published in 2018 by ESPN. The ESPN report video also was published Nov. 28, 2018, on YouTube.
 

Screenshot comparison between the video presented in the claim (left) and the ESPN report video (right).

 
The Chinese-language subtitles of the video presented in the claim show that the reporter asked Maradona’s comment on the China men’s national football team, but he hesitated and did not give a clear response. In fact, the ESPN reporter asked in Spanish, which translates to English as, “Mr. Maradona, recently you have watched a lot of matches in the first division of the Liga MX here (Mexico) and watched the performance of the teams up close. You must know a lot about the teams. What do you think of this league?” Therefore, the subtitles in the Facebook video were wrongly translated.

ESPN also shared Nov. 26, 2018, the interview video on Twitter, with English-language subtitles superimposed: “I guess you already knew a little bit about it. What do you think about the level of the MX league?” The video, therefore, makes no reference to the China national football team.
 

Screenshot of the tweet published by ESPN.

 
In September 2018, Maradona was appointed manager of the Mexican soccer club Dorados and made his debut with the team with a victory in Mexico’s first division.

CBS News also published Nov. 26, 2018 an article about the Maradona’s interview. The article’s subheading reads, “The Dorados de Sinaloa manager drew a blank when asked about the level of play in Mexico.” Specifically, Maradona was asked “what do you think about the level of the MX league,” according to the article.

The subtitles superimposed on the Facebook video, therefore, were wrongly translated. The reporter’s question makes no reference to China men’s national football team.