On Tuesday, FIFA announced the introduction of new sanctions for the 2026 World Cup. A player who covers their mouth to speak or another who leaves the field to contest a referee’s decision could be excluded from the global tournament.
FIFA has introduced two new red cards in response to controversies that have marked the season. Assembled on Tuesday in Vancouver, they decided on new rules for the 2026 World Cup (June 11 – July 19): “At an extraordinary meeting held in Vancouver, Canada, the IFAB unanimously approved two modifications to the Laws of the Game proposed by FIFA aimed at combating discriminatory and inappropriate behavior. As agreed at the IFAB Annual General Assembly (AGA) in February, these decisions follow in-depth consultations conducted by FIFA with all key stakeholders. Players covering their mouths during confrontations with opponents. At the discretion of the competition organizer, any player covering their mouth during a confrontation with an opponent may be penalized with a red card.”
“The referee can punish with a red card any player who leaves the field to protest against a referee’s decision.”
This decision resonates with the Gianluca Prestianni – Vinicius case, when the Benfica Argentine was accused by the Real Madrid star of making racist remarks by covering his mouth. The Benfica player was eventually suspended for 6 matches without UEFA being able to formally prove the racist nature of the South American’s words.
The second rule is expected to spark discussion in Morocco and Senegal, finalists of the last AFCON: “Players leaving the field to protest against a referee’s decision. At the discretion of the competition organizer, the referee can punish with a red card any player leaving the field to protest against a referee’s decision. This new rule will also apply to any team staff member who encourages players to leave the field. A team that causes a match to be abandoned will, in principle, be declared the loser by default. These modifications will be communicated to the 48 participating teams of the 2026 FIFA World Cup in the coming weeks.” Finally, FIFA also clarified that a yellow card received in the group stage of the World Cup would be erased at the beginning of the knockout stages, before the counters are reset to zero after the quarter-finals of the competition.
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