Claim: Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin celebrating Ghana’s win against Panama at the 2026 World Cup
Source: Social media (Tiktok, Facebook and X)
Verdict: Misleading
Researched by Samuel Adjei
The Black Stars’ 1-0 victory over Panama at the 2026 FIFA World Cup meant that for the first time since 2010, Ghana recorded a win in its opening game at the mundial.
When Caleb Yirenkyi’s goal came in the dying minutes of the game, a viral video surfaced on social media purportedly showing the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, celebrating Ghana’s victory.
The video was shared by several media outlets and blog pages across X, Facebook, and TikTok, including Max FM (archived here), Citi Sports, Onua FM (archived here), and numerous other accounts.
RelatedNews
However, the post that gained the widest reach was published by TV3. On its X account, TV3 captioned the video: “This is how the Speaker of Parliament, Alban Bagbin, celebrated Ghana’s victory against Panama in the World Cup opener.” The same video and claim was also shared on TV3’s Facebook, X, Threads and TikTok platforms.
As at the time of publishing this report, on X alone, TV3’s post (archived here) recorded significant engagement, amassing about 189,800 views, 8,800 likes, 409 reposts, 34 comments, and 132 bookmarks, making it the most widely circulated version of the claim.
But did the video actually show Speaker Alban Bagbin celebrating Ghana’s World Cup victory over Panama?
This report verifies the claim.
Fact-check
Using the keyframes function of InVID Verification Tools and Google Reverse Image Search, GhanaFact found that the video in question first appeared online on November 29, 2022 after Ghana defeated South Korea 3-2 in a Group H match at the 2022 FIFA World Cup on November 28, 2022.
This was evidence that the video was totally unrelated to Ghana’s 2026 FIFA World Cup victory over Panama.
Further checks showed that the same video was published by several Ghanaian media outlets at the time, including JoyNews and Joy FM, TV XYZ, GBC News, and other news and blog pages, all identifying it as Speaker Alban Bagbin celebrating Ghana’s victory over South Korea in 2022.
Another detail that contradicts the recent claim is the jersey worn by the Speaker in the video. He is seen wearing the Black Stars jersey used during the 2022 FIFA World Cup, not the newly designed jersey being worn by the national team at the ongoing 2026 FIFA World Cup. This further confirms that the footage predates Ghana’s match against Panama by nearly four years.
From the above findings, GhanaFact concludes that the media outlets that presented the video as recent were engaged in media misinformation. This trend has been extensively covered by GhanaFact in reports about a viral Cambodia visa ban on Africans, a Kenyan gardener who opted for chicken instead of luxury cars and a viral claim about the February 28 crossroad commemoration in 2025.
Verdict:
The claim that the video shows Speaker Alban Bagbin celebrating Ghana’s victory over Panama at the 2026 FIFA World Cup is false.
The footage is from November 2022, following Ghana’s victory over South Korea at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, and has been misleadingly recirculated as recent.
