After Argentina won the FIFA World Cup, pages and accounts on communication sites in several languages around the world circulated publications saying that the Argentine Central Bank had issued a currency with a picture of Lionel Messi on it.
And the leaflets, some of which bear a picture of what appears to be a thousand-peso banknote with a drawing of Messi, stated that the Central Bank in Buenos Aires issued an official currency bearing the image of this star player who led his country to win the FIFA World Cup in the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
These publications garnered hundreds of posts and tens of thousands of interactions on Arabic-language communication sites, in addition to a wide spread in several languages around the world.
The appearance of these leaflets comes following the end of the final match in the World Cup, in which Argentina defeated France on penalties, following a tie in the regular and extra time.
And Messi was able to repeat what his predecessor Diego Maradona, the idol of the Argentine fans, did, who led his country to its second world title with a series of impressive solo performances in Mexico in 1986.
After checking these publications, it was found that Argentina did not issue a currency with Messi’s image on it, and there is no trace of this news on any reliable source, knowing that news of this kind would arouse global media interest.
A source in the Central Bank denied the veracity of what came in these publications.
“We do not have any project to issue a currency with Messi’s image,” said Fernando Alonso, a spokesman for the central bank.