Club signed player based on fake Wikipedia profile, thought they'd signed a star

You're often told to not believe everything you see on Wikipedia and there is no better example for that statement than the time a club signed a player based off his profile on the site.

In February 2018, FK Panevėžys, who play in Lithuania, snapped up Barkley Miguel Panzo and announced his signing on their official website.

"The player began his professional career in England at the Queens Park Rangers club," a statement read before it was deleted.

"In the 2010-2012 season, representing the QPR team in the Championship, Panzo played 36 matches with 24 goals.

"After that, the footballer had to play with Sarlat Marcillac, Moulins, Brevinois Foot, Les Sables-d'Olonne and Orleans."

Panzo is indeed a real footballer and has a blue tick on Instagram. But it's quite clear that he had did not score 45 goals in 36 games playing for QPR in the Championship.

A previous edit on the page said he scored 24 goals in 36 appearances, which suggests something fishy had been going on.

Neil Warnock was Rs manager at the time and they had the likes of Jamie Mackie, Helder Helguson and Rob Hulse as attacking options.

Although he did spend some time at QPR as a youngster, there is certainly no official record of Panzo turning out for the first-team.

The page also claims he was capped three times for Angola in AFCON qualifiers but again there's no evidence whatsoever.

He did play in England, turning out for Woking, Hendon, Hillingdon, Northwood and Cambridge City as well as a slew of lower league French sides.

According to Transfer Markt, Panzo left Panevėžys for Vittoriosa Stars of Malta in January 2019 and has also played for Slovenian side NK Krsko and Mauerwerk in Austria.

He's reportedly been without a club since July 2021 but the 29-year-old has been working with the the UNFP - the union of professional footballers - as a content creator in his native France.

Shortly after the signing, Panevėžys took down the statement and apologised for incorrect information published.

Meanwhile, Miguel Panzo emphatically denied that he edited his page and says the deal was already done.

"This page was amendable by anyone and I still don't know if someone really had fun making me a serial scorer or if the translation from English into Slovenian confused things," he told the UNFP in a feature on him.

"But the question is not there: when the networks started to ignite, I had already signed my contract after a trial and two friendly matches after which the club decided to hire me. Because I had proven my worth on the pitch. And not online. Admittedly, I had played in QPR, but in the youth teams, never in pro and I challenge anyone to prove that I could make people believe otherwise.

The mistake I made was to underestimating the malevolence of people who talked about me without knowing me, just to exist on the web, and the power of social networks.

It's not quite on the same level as 'George Weah's cousin' Ali Dia at Southampton - or Gregoire Akcelrod nearly duping a Champions League club into paying him £15,000-a-month - but it's a hilarious story nonetheless.