Sports
Five Expert Tips on How to Spot Fake Pokémon Cards
The Pokémon card market has grown considerably since the franchise first came to the fore in 1999, with over 190 collections of cards now in circulation.
Naturally, this has led to a lot of fake cards being manufactured and sold to collectors, sometimes for thousands of dollars, fooling even the most experienced into believing they are buying genuine cards.
Ahead of Pokémon Day on 27th February, the online gaming information site Indivisible Game has outlined what collectors can do to identify forgeries and avoid spending on counterfeits.
Compare Card Printing Quality
Authentic Pokémon cards are printed with high-quality materials and precision. Examine the printing quality, colour vibrancy, and detail as counterfeit cards may have blurry images, inconsistent colours, or pixelation.
Pay attention to the overall print resolution and clarity of text and symbols, while also checking for grammatical errors within the text, which is an easy way to spot a fake card.
Check the Card Texture and Material
Pokémon cards typically have a specific texture and feel, while counterfeit cards may have a smoother or glossier finish.
Run your fingers over the card’s surface and compare it to known authentic cards. Genuine Pokémon cards often have a slightly grainy texture, while fakes may feel slick or too smooth, so you should be able to tell the difference just by touching the surface.
Inspect the Holographic Foil Elements
Many Pokémon cards in various collections feature holographic foil patterns. Counterfeiters often struggle to replicate these holographic effects accurately – so, look for irregular patterns, such as missing details, inconsistent shine, or a lack of depth.
The authentic holographic foil should display a distinct and consistent pattern when tilted under a light. A quick test is to compare the energy symbol with other cards; a common trait in fakes is that this is slightly larger or distorted.
Verify Card Size and Thickness
Authentic Pokémon cards adhere to specific size and thickness standards, which differ for each collection. Counterfeit cards sometimes deviate from these dimensions, so be sure to use a ruler to measure the card’s length, width, and thickness compared to a known authentic card from the same set. As well as this, bend the card a little, as fakes often feel flimsy compared to high-quality real ones.
An easy way to spot a certain fake is to examine the edge of the card closely. Real Pokémon cards have a very thin sheet of black between the cardboard; it’s only visible up close, but you’ll be able to see the darkness between the two thin halves of the card. Without this, it’s not a genuine Pokémon card.
Be Familiar with All Characters and Stats
For those buyers who aren’t familiar with all 1,025 Pokémon characters, it’s easy to be duped by fake cards that have character images from other franchises that have been heavily influenced by Pokémon, such as Digimon. The sheer volume of characters can make it tricky to be certain from memory alone, so do your research and verify the picture is of an official Pokémon.
Specific stats can also reveal a card’s authenticity; for example, if the HP is over 340 (aside from a few unique rare cards), it is likely to be fake. Verifying the attacks on the card will also confirm if they are real, as counterfeit cards have previously listed some that don’t exist.
Commenting on the expert advice, a spokesperson from Indivisible Game said: “It is truly incredible that after a quarter of a century, Pokémon cards remain as popular as they were when they first appeared.
“Pokémon Day always sparks even more interest in the franchise and, naturally, will see new and old fans starting a card collection. Fortunately, these tips can help budding collectors avoid being tricked into buying fake cards.”
By Dipo Olowookere
A fully synthetic multilingual Artificial Intelligence (AI) presenter known as AILA has been unveiled by Flashscore, one of the world’s largest digital sports data and news platforms.
Flashscore, which boasts more than 155 million monthly users, said the AI presenter was developed in collaboration with a creative high-value AI production studio, Fameplay.
AILA turns Flashscore’s sports data-driven features and narratives into localised presenter-led video, a statement from the company made available to Business Post said.
It anchored Route 48, Flashscore’s player-by-player data profile series, in Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese, and fronted an app-download campaign across Latin America, Spain and France, speaking each market’s language natively.
On the strength of that run, Flashscore is now ready to extend AILA across product and editorial announcements, original shows and partnerships.
Flashscore noted that AILA does not replace human editorial teams or studios, but rather complements them effectively and adds an always-available element.
“AILA was created by deliberately separating two distinct elements. The performance itself, the movement, facial expressions, and on-screen presence, was licensed from a real actress. The face, however, was built entirely from scratch: fully synthetic and fully owned,” the Chief AI Producer and co-founder of Fameplay, Lukáš Záhoř, stated.
“AILA can speak in dozens of languages, across any format, at any time, without being constrained by the availability or limitations of a human performer.
“Most synthetic presenters, by contrast, borrow a real person’s face and simply hope no one asks who actually owns it. For Flashscore, we created an asset that will only become more valuable over time, not a deepfake that lasts only until the first lawsuit,” Záhoř added.
Also commenting, the Chief Digital Content Officer at Livesport, Alan Záruba, said, “Our newsroom reaches millions of people, and we built our own studios to enhance our content the way we want it.
“AILA is an extension of that, not a departure from it. We want to stay at the forefront of the current digital development and AI-powered stream. When we briefed Fameplay on how to handle the concept of an AI digital avatar which can radically change the way we would scale our content, we wrote a single line to define future AILA: she’s built from numbers, but she speaks in stories.”
By Adedapo Adesanya
Nigeria’s Super Falcons have failed to qualify for the 2027 FIFA Women’s World Cup after suffering a 2-1 defeat to South Africa in their play-off encounter on Thursday night.
The Nigerian team, reeling from a 1-0 loss to Cameroon in the quarter-finals of the CAF Women’s African Cup of Nations (WAFCON) on Sunday, showed no signs of putting their misery to bed as they went two goals down to the Bayana Bayana team. It took a late penalty scored by Christy Uchebe to halve the deficit after the South Africans went down to 10 players.
The Super Falcons needed a victory against their opponents to progress to the next stage of the qualification process and secure one of the two available tickets to the intercontinental play-offs. The defeat ended their hopes of making it to the 2027 tournament, which will be hosted by Brazil.
The result brings an end to Nigeria’s remarkable record of appearing at every edition of the Women’s World Cup since the tournament was first held in 1991.
The play-offs were introduced to determine the final African representatives after four teams were eliminated at the quarter-final stage of the 2026 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations.
Two qualification tickets were available, with Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire battling for the opportunity to advance.
Ghana secured one of the available tickets after defeating Côte d’Ivoire 2-1, while South Africa claimed the other following their victory over the Super Falcons.
The Super Falcons had featured in all previous editions of the tournament, making their absence from the 2027 World Cup a significant moment in the history of Nigerian women’s football.
It also raises fresh questions about the direction of Nigerian national football after the Super Eagles also failed to qualify for the recently concluded FIFA World Cup held in the USA, Canada, and Mexico.
European football returns with a bang as the new season kicks off. The dust has barely settled on the 2026 FIFA World Cup, but European football wastes no time getting back to business. Over the next two weeks, the continent’s prominent competitions will launch in quick succession, giving fans a dense run of fixtures across the UEFA Super Cup, the FA Community Shield, La Liga, the Premier League and Serie A.
Paris Saint-Germain, fresh off back-to-back Champions League triumphs, faces Aston Villa in the UEFA Super Cup on Wednesday 12 August at 8pm which will be airing on Supersport across DStv & GOtv, with the French side chasing a second successive Super Cup crown against an Aston Villa team that has become an increasingly serious force in European competition.
England’s traditional curtain-raiser follows four days later. The FA Community Shield, staged in Cardiff on Sunday 16 August at 3pm, pits Premier League champions Arsenal against FA Cup holders Manchester City, the latter beginning life under new manager Enzo Maresca, while Arsenal look to reinforce their status as the team to beat.
Spain gets moving over the same weekend, with La Liga’s opening round running from Saturday 15 to Monday 17 August. Real Madrid, Barcelona and Atletico Madrid have all been given extended rest following Spain’s World Cup win, leaving the door open for the chasing pack to set an early pace before Matchday 2 arrives from 20 to 24 August.
The Premier League then starts the following weekend, running from Friday 21 to Monday 24 August. Champions Arsenal open their title defence at home to promoted Coventry, before a full round of fixtures featuring Manchester United, Tottenham, Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea, among others, round out the opening weekend. Serie A joins the calendar on the same weekend, from 22 to 24 August, with holders Inter Milan starting their title defence against Monza and Napoli, Juventus, Milan and Roma all in early action.
With five major competitions launching inside a fortnight, the new European season promises an unrelenting start. All the action will be available live on SuperSport, across DStv and GOtv.
