NO, The Algerian Football Team is NOT Donating Its World Cup Winnings To The Poor In Gaza
A story surfaced claiming that Algeria striker Islam Slimani said his team will be donating all of their World Cup prize winnings to Gaza. That's an extremely generous gesture. It also appears to be hoax.
By Sadho Ram — 04 Jul 2014, 02:55 PM — Updated over 10 years ago
The Algerian football team performed heroically in the World Cup. They were paraded in an open-top bus on their arrival in Algiers.
Following their arrival, there were reports that striker Islam Slimani had told Jordanian football writer Waleed Abu Nada that all of their prize money will be donated to the people of Gaza
A handful of media outlets, including BuzzFeed and DailyMail, picked up the feel-good story. But soon, questions were being asked about the so-called claims.
It seems as though the rumours that the Algerian national team would be donating all of their World Cup prize winnings to the people of Gaza may have been the product of a story perpetuated by Twitter.
bleacherreport.com
But where did the only quote used—"They need it more than us"—come from? Slimani's Twitter and Facebook pages don't mention any donation.
Football blogger Maher Mezahi, who covered the Algerian national team for a few outlets, traced not just the quote, but the origin of the story
Mezahi pointed out that in Algeria's welcoming ceremony, one of the players hung a Palestinian flag over the side of the bus. This could have been the spark for the story.
And Mezahi believes a man named Waleed Abu Nada on Twitter added Slimani's quote
BuzzFeed has already updated their article, as have other sites, except the DailyMail
Google "Islam Slimani Gaza" if you want to see the list of who wrote about it. Meanwhile, the article on 101 Great Goals links to a 404 now.
bit.ly