Video assistant referees (VAR) will have new powers to intervene at this summer's World Cup if fouls are committed immediately before the ball is in play at set-pieces, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) has announced. The new measures will allow VAR to step in if a clear foul committed by the attacking team before the ball is in play leads to a direct impact on a goal, penalty kick or disciplinary sanction. In a statement, IFAB said: "The IFAB has approved a clarification to the video assistant referee protocol for use at the 2026 FIFA World Cup regarding clear offences committed by the attacking team before the ball is in play at a corner kick or free kick that have a direct impact on a goal, penalty kick, or disciplinary sanction. If the offence meets the criteria set out in the clarification, VAR will recommend an on-field review, following which, if the referee determines that an offence occurred before the ball was in play, the appropriate disciplinary action will be taken and the corner kick or free kick will be retaken."
Speaking before the announcement was made, former top official Pierluigi Collina, now FIFA's chief refereeing officer and chairman of the FIFA referees committee, used the example of England's goal in their 1-1 friendly against Uruguay in March as one that VAR could disallow under the new protocol. Collina argued that Ben White's goal should not have stood as Adam Wharton made a clear block to prevent defender José María Giménez challenging for the ball shortly before the corner was taken. "We are convinced that this goal cannot stand, it is completely unfair..." Collina said. "If a foul is committed just before the ball is in play, we are convinced that nobody can object to something."
VAR was already due to take on an expanded role from this summer, with officials able to review red cards that result from a wrongful second booking, mistaken identity involving a second yellow card, and also intervene if a corner has been wrongly awarded instead of a goal kick. Players covering their mouth with a hand, arm or shirt will be given red cards if referees deem it not to be a friendly conversation, FIFA said. Conversations that are not confrontational but still have players shielding their mouths from public view will continue to be permitted without penalty. FIFA is also keen to clamp down on the growing issue of teams using injuries to break up play and hold team talks mid-game while players receive treatment. IFAB discussed the issue in March but was unable to find a solution. However, Collina said the matter had been raised during a workshop involving the head coaches of all 48 teams heading to this summer's World Cup. Although referees will have no sanctions at their disposal, Collina said referees would be "proactive" in preventing teams unfairly taking advantage of injuries. "We will not allow the teams going to the benches when a goalkeeper is lying on the ground injured," Collina said. "The goalkeeper has the right to be injured, but the players do not have the right to leave the field of play to have some sort of time out with their respective coaches. I'm afraid we didn't get a shared solution [on sanctions], a solution agreed by everybody. For this season, IFAB didn't take any decision. Certainly something will be done in the future. For the time being, we rely on players' understanding of the problem. We told them, 'be aware that we know' so what we can avoid is having all the players off the field of play. There are captains, there are coaches, so certainly referees will be ready to face something like this if it should happen."
Source: ESPN
