Ahead of this summer’s World Cup, the International Football Association Board has unanimously passed two proposals by FIFA intended to punish any behavior deemed discriminatory or inappropriate.
The agreements were made on Tuesday during a Special Meeting in Vancouver, Canada, one of the nation’s two host cities for this summer’s tournament, which will be divided between Canada, the U.S., and Mexico.
The biggest talking point of the two newly passed proposals is that any player spotted covering their mouth during a confrontation with an opposing player can now be given a straight red card.
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This follows such an incident on February 17 between Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni and Real Madrid’s Vincius Jr. during which the former could clearly be seen covering his mouth with his jersey as he spoke to his opponent shortly after he had put the Spanish side one goal ahead. Prestianni’s comment prompted an immediate reaction from the Brazilian, who accused the Argentine of making a racist remark.
Prestianni was subsequently suspended for the second leg of the UEFA Champions League play-off tie, which Madrid won 3-1 on aggregate.
An investigation from UEFA ensued, with Prestianni eventually being slapped with a six-game ban for the use of what was deemed homophobic language towards Vinicius Jr. This included the game which he had already missed, while three of the games were suspended for two years, as per ESPN.
The governing body of European soccer added that it had called on FIFA to “extend the ban worldwide,” via the outlet. This followed UEFA also handing Benfica a further fine as a result of racist abuse from within their fanbase during the aforementioned game.
As for the second proposal passed on Thursday, this pertains to players opting to leave the field in protest of a decision made by the match official. This will now also be seen as a red card offense, while team bosses who opt to coerce their players into leaving the field will also be subject to this new rule.
FIFA’s press release went on to note that “A team that causes a match to be abandoned will, in principle, forfeit the match.”
This follows the highly controversial decision to overturn the result of the Africa Cup of Nations Final in January, which saw Senegal beat host nation Morocco 1-0 in extra time.
Fast forward to March, and the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) overturned the win after an appeal by the Fédération Royale Marocaine de Football (FRMF), handing the title to Morocco.
The appeal was lodged on the basis of some Senegalese players having left the field in protest following referee Jean-Jacques Ndala Ngambo’s decision to hand Morocco an added-time penalty, with the game tied at 0-0.
Senegal boss Pape Thiaw was incensed by the decision, calling on his players to head back to the locker room. A few opted to remain on the pitch, including Sadio Mané, who went on to bring his teammates back out onto the field, allowing the game to resume.
Brahim Díaz would go on to miss the penalty, with Pape Gueye’s 94th-minute goal deciding the game.
The decision to overturn Senegal’s win and hand the victory to Morocco is now set to head to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), where a final ruling will be made on the matter.
Following Thursday’s meeting, FIFA President Gianni Infantino took to Instagram where he wrote, “I thank all stakeholders for your time, valuable inputs and alignment on these important matters which have been managed in a consultation process led by FIFA.
“These amendments will be implemented at the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026 and all other competition organisers will be able to decide whether to implement the changes before they enter into force on 1 July 2026.”