Claim: A Manchester United and Manchester City fan arrested for stealing goat in Uganda
Source: Social media
Verdict: False
Researched by Alfa Shaban
Amid the English Premier League (EPL) title celebrations by Arsenal fans across the world, a viral report circulated over the weekend about the arrest of two Manchester fans, who allegedly stole a goat meant for Arsenal celebrations.
A newspaper frontpage of Uganda’s New Vision purportedly carried the news of the theft with a headline: “THEFT: MANCHESTER FANS STEAL GOAT MEANT FOR ARSENAL CELEBRATION.” It showed an image of the two fans – one in a Manchester United and the other in a Manchester City jersey – both in handcuffs with the ‘stolen’ goat.
The image has been shared here, here, here including being discussed on a Kenyan radio station, Spice FM (here, here). GhanaFact observed that the same image has been widely shared on Facebook (here, here).
RelatedNews
Did the New Vision carry a frontpage story of a goat theft?
Fact-Check
We first sought to ascertain the authenticity of the frontpage as circulated, was it indeed published by the New Vision. Our checks on their Facebook page showed that the most recent frontpage shared by the paper was on Friday May 22, 2026 and it did not have anything related to Arsenal.
We ran Google Reverse Image Search on the viral image and traced it to an April 28, 2026 X post. The post was captioned: “What Manchester United and City are good at” with two laughing emojis.
Another layer of analysis we used was to vet the stories as captured on the viral frontpage. We picked out three major stories.
- The story on why monkeypox mostly affects men was published on February 27, 2026 (it has been deleted when we last checked.)
- An article about nominations for Kawempe North polls was also reported on the same day.
- The feature of Gabona’s footprints in education was also published in February after her passing on February 23, 2026.
We did a visual comparison of the May 22 frontpage with the viral one and noticed some alterations.
- The altered image has the date and details of the publication erased in the logo area.
- The font type and setting of the altered frontpage is different from the usual New Vision style
- A column on the left side of the altered image has been blurred, emphasizing possible manipulation of an existing New Vision flyer.
We contacted the New Vision via Facebook and the X user who shared the flyer in April but none of them have replied to our questions. We also checked the social media handles of the Ugandan Police Force but there was no such report of a goat theft related to the Arsenal victory. No credible local media also carried the said story.
Our visual analysis of the viral flyer and interrogation of the stories covered on the doctored frontpage shows that the goat theft claim is not connected to Arsenal’s trophy celebrations.
Verdict:
The claim is therefore rated False.
