Football’s rule-making body has given formal approval to two sweeping law changes that will be enforced at this year’s World Cup, penalising players with a red card for covering their mouths during confrontations with opponents and for walking off the pitch in protest at a referee’s decision.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) unanimously approved the measures at a special meeting held Tuesday in Vancouver, British Columbia. Both rules will be in effect when the tournament begins on June 11.
The mouth-covering rule closes a loophole that drew global attention in February, when Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni made racially abusive comments directed at Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior while pulling his jersey over his mouth to conceal what he was saying. These new red card rules are not mandatory but give competition organisers like FIFA the option to apply them. All 48 teams competing in the World Cup will be informed of the amendments in the coming weeks.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, who championed the rule change, said the act of concealment must be treated as evidence of wrongdoing. “If a player covers his mouth and says something, and this has a racist consequence, then he has to be sent off, obviously,” he said. “There must be a presumption that he has said something he shouldn’t have said, otherwise he wouldn’t have had to cover his mouth.”
UEFA handed Prestianni a six-game ban for the verbal abuse, which it determined was homophobic in nature. UEFA could not prove the racial insult, which Prestianni denied, though he admitted using a homophobic slur. If selected for Argentina’s World Cup squad, he must sit out the defending champions’ first two matches in June, although the ban can be appealed.
The second rule change responds directly to the chaos that overshadowed the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final in January. Senegal’s players, head coach Pape Thiaw, and his staff walked off the pitch in Rabat after Morocco were awarded a penalty in added time, which forward Brahim Diaz ultimately missed. Senegal went on to win the final 1-0 in extra time but were stripped of the title by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). CAF appeal judges cancelled Senegal’s win and imposed a 3-0 defeat, having determined they forfeited the match after briefly leaving the field in protest.
Under the new rule, the referee may sanction with a red card any player who leaves the field of play in protest at a referee’s decision. The rule also applies to any team official who incites players to leave the field, and a team that causes a match to be abandoned will forfeit the game.
The law changes were announced as FIFA delegates gathered in Vancouver ahead of Thursday’s FIFA Congress, the final gathering of football’s global governing body before the World Cup gets underway in Canada, Mexico, and the United States in June.
