The 2026 FIFA World Cup is just weeks away, and as I do every four years or so, I’m jonesing for some World Cup soccer.
However, this year’s tournament is bringing with it some new rules, one of which might be one of the goofiest I’ve ever heard.
Want to cover your mouth while jawing with an opponent? Not unless you want a red card, you don’t, pal.
New rules allow FIFA referees to assess a red card if a player covers their mouth during a confrontation with an opponent. (Photo by Srdjan Stevanovic – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
According to The Athletic, FIFA has rolled out some new rules that give officials the latitude to issue players red cards if they cover their mouths during a confrontation with an opponent.
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It’s being left up to the on-field official to decide, based on the circumstances, whether or not to whip out the ol’ red card.
Now, the reason for this dates back to an incident in which Real Madrid player Vinicius Jr. accused Benfica player Gianluca Prestianni of making racist comments. Prestianni denied this, but had his jersey over his mouth the entire time.
He was ultimately banned by UEFA for six matches after admitting to making homophobic comments during the incident, though three of those matches were suspended and also include one match in which he served under a preliminary suspension.
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The rule stems largely from this incident involving Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni during a match against Real Madrid earlier this year in the UEFA Champions League. (Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)
“If a player covers his mouth and says something, and this has a racist consequence, then he has to be sent off, obviously,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said in an interview with Sky News shortly after the incident. “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.”
A “presumption”? So, now if you’ve got your mouth covered, you’re saying something racist. There’s no other possible explanation!
Noted. It’s always that simple, isn’t it?
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Of course not.
Sure, if someone feels like the pitch is a good place to get racist, send them off… but, now we’re just assuming anyone who covers their mouth is saying something racist or homophobic?
That doesn’t seem like a smart direction to head in, does it? Especially after one incident.
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I agree that if a player covers his mouth while chirping an opponent, it’s likely because he doesn’t want it to be heard or lip-read. But that doesn’t mean it’s something racist or homophobic.
I’m not proud of it, but I can think of a lot of chirps that most people would not want broadcast to millions that don’t fall into either of those buckets.
Anyone who has played a sport at any level — high school, college, pro, beer league — can.
Racist and/or homophobic comments aren’t something you want in the game, but these new rules that arrive in time for the World Cup seem to run the risk of going too far.
The FIFA World Cup Trophy is displayed on stage at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., ahead of the FIFA World Cup 2026 Official Draw on Dec. 3, 2025. (Michael Regan – FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)
In fact, it seems reasonable to believe that we could see a player get smeared as a racist homophobe because he covered his mouth, even if that wasn’t the case at all.
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Good luck trying to wash that stink off of you in this day and age.
All too often, people bring in a rule like this under the premise of “fighting racism and homophobia” without seemingly weighing the consequences of how it might backfire.
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And this one seems to have some serious backfirin’ potential in my opinion.
So, if you’re a soccer player and you don’t want people lip-reading your non-racist and non-homophobic chirps, you’ve still got about a month and a half to hone your ventriloquism chops.
