Could players be sent off for covering their mouths? New FIFA World Cup rules explained
Red cards for covering your mouth and leaving the pitch in protest? FIFA’s new World Cup rules explained.
The World Cup may not seem like the most obvious time and place to add brand new laws to the game for the first time - but that’s exactly what’s set to happen this summer after the International Football Association Board (IFAB) approved two new FIFA-proposed rule changes ahead of the showpiece tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
The new rules could see players sent off for covering their mouths or for leaving the pitch in protest at refereeing decisions, while a separate change to the World Cup tournament rules will change the way that yellow card suspensions work. So what’s going to be different this summer?
Could players really be sent off for covering their mouths at the World Cup?
A special meeting of IFAB, the body which governs football’s laws, took place in Vancouver on Tuesday and approved two new rules which were proposed directly by FIFA – and both of those rules will take effect from the start of the World Cup on 11 June.
The new law which has grabbed most of the headlines states that any players who covers their mouth while speaking to an opponent in what could be interpreted to be an insulting or aggressive manner could now be shown a red card.
The wording of the rule states that “any player covering their mouth in a confrontational situation with an opponent may be sanctioned with a red card,” with the final decision at the discretion of the referee.
The change appears likely to have been ‘inspired’ by Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni, who used his shirt to cover his mouth when abusing Real Madrid forward Vinícius Júnior during a Champions League match in February.
Vinícius accused Prestianni of using racist language, while Prestianni insisted instead that the insults had been homophobic in nature. Following an investigation by UEFA, Prestianni was banned for six matches, with three suspended, for homophobic abuse, with the allegations of racism seemingly set aside in order to secure a ban for a charge which the player had already admitted.
Now, players who follow Prestianni’s example and obscure what they’re saying to a rival player during a moment of confrontation could be sent off, although the referee will have the final say and will be expected to judge whether an incident was sufficiently confrontational to merit such a punishment.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino told the media: “If a player covers his mouth and says something, and this has a racist consequence, then he has to be sent off, obviously. 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.
"If you do not have something to hide, you don't hide your mouth when you say something. That's it, as simple as that."
The second new law approved by IFAB states that “the referee may sanction with a red card any player who leaves the field of play in protest at a referee's decision. This new rule will also apply to any team official who incites players to leave the field of play.”
It’s presumed that this second new rule is designed to prevent a repeat of the astonishing scenes at the end of the deeply controversial AFCON final in January, when Senegalese players stormed down the tunnel in protest of the referee’s decision to award Morocco a penalty.
In that match, the players were eventually persuaded to return to the field to finish the match – and Senegal won the game in extra time before CAF controversially stripped them of their title and awarded it to Morocco. Should something similar happen at the World Cup, however, the referee would now be expected to show a red card to every player who left the pitch, effectively forcing an abandonment which would hand the win to the team still on the field.
That doesn’t seem like a much more palatable scenario than the one which took place in Rabat earlier this year, but would at least make the decision to award one team the victory by forfeit less questionable.
New rules will also change how yellow card suspensions work at the World Cup
According to a report from The Athletic, FIFA are also set to introduce a change to the tournament rules – a decision which will not require approval from IFAB as it is not a change to the laws of the game but only to the playing conditions of the World Cup.
The change will add a second yellow card amnesty to the tournament as a response to the expansion to 48 teams and the addition of an extra knockout round. Players will still be suspended for one match if they collect two yellow cards, but now those cards will be wiped from the record twice rather than just once over the course of the competition.
Previously, yellow cards were annulled after the quarter-final stage, meaning that a player could only be suspended for the final if they were shown a red card. Now, there will be two yellow card amnesties – one after the quarter-final, as before, and another after the group stage games.
With the new tournament structure, players would have had to play six matches before yellow cards were wiped out, increasing the chances that players were suspended for crucial matches in the latter stages. Now, players will only be suspended if they are booked twice over the course of a three-game period.
The new rule, which has not yet been formally announced but was also expected to be discussed in Vancouver this week during a meeting of the FIFA Council, is felt to be fairer on players and teams, and to reduce the impact of individual yellow cards. It is believed that the change will be ratified and announced in the near future.