On Tuesday, FIFA announced the introduction of new rules 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 may be excluded from the global tournament.
The FIFA has introduced two new red cards in response to the controversies that have marked the season. Gathered in Vancouver on Tuesday, 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 Meeting (AGM) in February, these decisions follow in-depth consultations conducted by FIFA with all relevant 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 sanctioned with a red card.”
“The referee may show a red card to any player who leaves the field to protest against a referee’s decision.”
This decision echoes the Gianluca Prestianni – Vinicius case, when the Benfica Argentinian was accused by the Real Madrid star of making racist remarks while 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 likely to spark discussion in Morocco and Senegal, finalists of the last CAN: “Players leaving the field to protest against a referee’s decision. At the discretion of the competition organizer, the referee may show a red card to any player who leaves the field to protest against a referee’s decision. This new rule also applies to any staff member of a team 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 teams participating in the FIFA World Cup 2026 in the coming weeks.” Lastly, FIFA also clarified that a yellow card received in the group stage of the World Cup will be erased at the beginning of the knockout stages, before the counters are reset to zero after the quarterfinals of the competition.
