act-checking premature posts about the death of Mino Raiola

UPDATE, May 3, 2022: On April 30, two days after Mino Raiola refuted premature claims of his death, his family announced that he had died. Publication of this fact-check preceded that announcement.

Mino Raiola, a powerful and high-earning soccer agent, has been hospitalized in Milan, Italy, with an undisclosed medical condition.

He is not, however, dead, despite online rumors falsely describing his demise.

"Italian football agent Mino Raiola has died after suffering from an illness," read an April 28 Facebook post featuring a Raiola’s photo and the dates 1967-2022. "RIP." 

This post was flagged as part of Facebook’s efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Facebook.)

Raiola was alive enough to tweet his "current health status for the ones wondering" later that day. 

"Pissed off," he said. "Second time in 4 months they kill me. Seem also able to ressuscitate (sic)."

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stated on September 3, 2018 in in a blog post

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This followed comments from Dr. Alberto Zangrillo at the San Raffaele hospital in Milan who said "I’m outraged by the phone calls from pseudo-journalists speculating on the life of a man who is fighting to survive," the Guardian reported.

The newspaper said that Raiola "is understood to have been living with a serious illness since January."

We rate this post False.