Image of Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma at the FIFA World Cup Is AI-Generated

We found out that the image is AI-generated and does not show the two at a football match.

An image has been making the rounds on social media, claiming to show Indian cricketer Virat Kohli and actor Anushka Sharma at the 2026 FIFA World Cup held across North America and Mexico.

• The post, captioned "Virat Kohli & Anushka Sharma spotted in the stands supporting Cristiano Ronaldo and Portugal at the FIFA World Cup."

(Archived versions of similar claims can be found here and here)

Is it true?: No, the image is AI-generated and does not show the two at the FIFA World Cup.

How did we find out?: We ran a reverse image search on the image using Google Lens and couldn't find any credible sources that shared it.

• Since we couldn't find any reports stating that they were spotted watching the match, we ran the image through Hive Moderation, an AI detector.

• According to the tool, the image is 99.9% likely to have been generated by AI.

• We ran the image through another AI detector, Sightengine, which also showed that the image is very likely to be AI-generated.

Conclusion: The image is AI-generated and does not show Virat Kohli and Anushka Sharma at the FIFA World Cup.

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