Quick Facts
- The source is limited to information posted by two Twitter users on the evening of November 22, one is Indian businessman Suhel Seth, and the other is Awab Alvi, son of the President of Pakistan, on the basis of which CNN Indonesia reported.
- The King of Saudi Arabia did send a Rolls-Royce to Saeed Al-Owairan, the top scorer of the Saudi team that year, at the 1994 World Cup, but this is not enough to support the news on the Internet, and there is no evidence of the tens of millions of dollars in incentives that Saudi Arabia paid to the players.
Event background
On November 22, Saudi Arabia defeated Argentina 2-1 in the first round of Group C of the World Cup group stage, achieving the first victory of the Asian team in this World Cup and ending Argentina's 36-game unbeaten streak. To celebrate the victory, King Salman of Saudi Arabia declared November 23 a national holiday that can be celebrated by all public and private sectors, as well as students across the country.
On November 25, a Weibo topic of "Saudi Arabia rewards players with a Rolls-Royce each" rushed to the hot search, and the topic content was mostly quoted from Twitter netizens, saying that "the Saudi crown prince announced that every team member who defeated Argentina will receive a Rolls Royce Phantom Series 2, and the price of a bicycle is equivalent to 7 million yuan."
Later, another netizen claimed that it was fake news and said, "This was originally a joke post posted by a Thai netizen on Twitter, and some netizens followed suit, one of whom admitted that it was a joke." Another netizen said that "the huge benefits of winning in Saudi Arabia have been passed down from generation to generation, and in 2006, each person had $10 million to reach the top 8."
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Where exactly does the news come from?
According to the clues provided by netizens, it was traced back to the so-called "Thai netizen who first posted the news" Wootthinan NahimHD, and found that he posted the online news at 11 pm on November 23. However, the comparison can find that another Nigerian Twitter user, Okezie J. Atani, in the so-called "anti-counterfeiting" screenshot of "OneAsia SYHP", posted earlier, at noon on November 23, apparently "AsiaSYHP" could not justify itself.
Thai users' tweets (top) were posted later than Nigerian netizens' tweets (bottom)
Searching in Arabic in Google with keywords such as Saudi Arabia, Rolls-Royce, World Cup, etc., can not find relevant reports from local media, and there is no authoritative account of Saudi Arabia on Twitter (such as واس الأخبار الملكية) to announce online news. But a Twitter search for Rolls-Royce in English reveals a Nov. 24 report by CNN Indonesia that "Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman will present each player in the Saudi Arabian national team with a Rolls-Royce." The news was originally announced by Indian businessman Suhel Seth on Twitter. ”
Screenshot of CNN Indonesia report
Suhel Seth is the founder of Indian consultancy Counselage India and is currently the chairman of the Marketing Committee of the Confederation of Indian Industry and the Confederation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry. He tweeted at 8 p.m. on November 22 that "the Saudi prince will provide a Rolls-Royce for each national team player, in addition to $1 billion each." ”
Screenshot of Suhel Seth tweet
In addition, Awab Alvi, son of Pakistan's current President Arif Alvi, also tweeted on the evening of November 22, saying, "Mohammed bin Salman has announced that he will give every player who beats Argentina the Rolls-Royce Phantom." On November 23, he also followed up by saying that "the Saudi prince asked the winning players to choose the color and accessories of the car as soon as possible." Arif Alvi, who is currently the head of his family business, AlviDental, is also a prominent dentist and political activist in Pakistan, and was appointed vice chairman of the Karachi branch of the Pakistan Justice Movement Party (PTI) in April, according to Pakistani media reports.
Awab Alvi posted screenshots of related tweets for two days in a row
Awab Alvi was notified as vice chairman of the Karachi branch of the Pakistan Justice Movement Party (PTI).
At present, the above-mentioned tweets of Suhel Seth and Awab Alvi are both earlier sources of online news, but have not been confirmed by the Saudi side.
Is it tradition for Saudi Arabia to give out huge benefits?
In fact, sending players Rolls-Royce in Saudi Arabia is nothing new. ESPN, the more authoritative sports outlet, reported on the previous World Cup in 2014, and in the 1994 match between Saudi Arabia and Belgium, Saudi striker Saeed Al-Owairan's shot helped Saudi Arabia reach the round of 16, "After returning to Saudi Arabia, he got a Rolls-Royce car, known as 'Maradona of Arabs' who made a name for himself in the fight for his homeland." ”
Screenshot of ESPN's report
But the above case has only happened once, and since then, Saudi Arabia's incentive bonuses for players have not been as much as the "$10 million per capita" rumored on the Internet. In 2006, the BBC reported that "if the Saudi team reaches the round of 16 of the World Cup, each will receive 600,000 riyals (equivalent to about 1.07 million yuan at the current exchange rate)".
Screenshot of a BBC report in 2006
In 2018, Saudi Arabia's Eid al-Fitr event coincided with the World Cup, and before the holiday, the Saudi king ordered a subsidy of 1.7 billion riyals (about 3 billion yuan at the current exchange rate) to social security beneficiaries across the country, which is actually not related to the World Cup but may be miscommunicated due to time conflicts.
Associated Press news in 2018 about Eid subsidies
In summary, the online news has not been officially confirmed by Saudi Arabia as of press time, and the current source is limited to information posted by two users verified by Twitter on November 22, one is Indian businessman Suhel Seth, and the other is Awab Alvi, the son of the President of Pakistan. However, the King of Saudi Arabia did send a Rolls-Royce to Saeed Al-Owairan, the top scorer of the Saudi team that year, after the end of the 1994 World Cup, and the Saudi Arabian team's victory over Argentina in this World Cup broke out a "big upset" and won great honor for Saudi Arabia, and the Saudi crown prince is indeed likely to give the players a rich reward, the World Cup game continues, and the surging news will continue to pay attention.