{"id":422625,"date":"2026-04-29T01:53:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T01:53:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/422625\/"},"modified":"2026-04-29T01:53:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T01:53:10","slug":"players-who-cover-mouths-could-face-red-card-at-world-cup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/422625\/","title":{"rendered":"Players who cover mouths could face red card at World Cup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Players who cover their mouths when confronting an opponent will be sent off at this summer’s World Cup.<\/p>\n

FIFA proposed toughening the sanctions after Real Madrid forward Vinicius Junior claimed he was racially abused by Benfica\u2019s Gianluca Prestianni,<\/a> who covered his mouth while talking to the Brazilian during a Champions League match in February.<\/p>\n

Vinicius was visibly upset following the comment and immediately informed the referee, with play halted for 10 minutes in line with UEFA regulations.<\/p>\n

Any similar incident at this summer\u2019s World Cup will now result in a red card, after the rules were strengthened by unanimous agreement at a meeting of the game\u2019s lawmakers, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), in Vancouver on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

An IFAB statement outlining the law change read: “At the discretion of the competition organiser, any player covering their mouth in a confrontational situation with an opponent may be sanctioned with a red card.”<\/p>\n

UEFA announced last Friday that Prestianni had been given a six-match ban in relation to the incident for discriminatory conduct that was homophobic in nature, with three of the games suspended for two years and one already served on a provisional basis.<\/p>\n

It is understood Vinicius\u2019 allegation of racism was found not proven by UEFA\u2019s control, ethics and disciplinary body (CEDB) and that Prestianni admitted using a homophobic slur towards the Brazilian. The sanction imposed is still subject to appeal.<\/p>\n

FIFA brought the idea of bringing in sanctions for players covering their mouths to the IFAB\u2019s annual general meeting in Wales in February, shortly after the incident occurred.<\/p>\n

The day after the meeting, FIFA president Gianni Infantino told Sky News he thought red cards should be issued when a player confronts an opponent and covers their mouth.<\/p>\n

\"Senegalese
\nThe chaotic AFCON final has also led to rule changes<\/p>\n

Players who walk off the pitch in protest at refereeing decisions \u2013 and officials who incite players to do so \u2013 will also face instant dismissal at this summer\u2019s finals, again following a recommendation from FIFA to the IFAB.<\/p>\n

A team that causes a match to be abandoned will, in principle, forfeit the match.<\/p>\n

The change follows the chaotic scenes witnessed during the Africa Cup of Nations final in January, when Senegal\u2019s players left the field after the award of a penalty to hosts Morocco deep into injury time.<\/p>\n

Their actions delayed the match by 17 minutes, and Senegal went on to win after Brahim Diaz missed the spot-kick and the game went to extra time.<\/p>\n

Senegal were stripped of the title by an appeal board of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), which last month overturned the result and awarded the trophy to Morocco.<\/p>\n

Senegal is appealing against that decision at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).<\/p>\n

Watch Atl\u00e9tico Madrid v Arsenal in the Champions League semi-finals on Wednesday from 7.30pm on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player. Follow our live blog on RT\u00c9.ie\/sport and RT\u00c9 News app<\/p>\n

Watch Lyon v Arsenal in the UEFA Women’s Champions League semi-finals on Saturday from 1.30pm on RT\u00c92 and RT\u00c9 Player<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Players who cover their mouths when confronting an opponent will be sent off at this summer’s World Cup.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":422626,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,112],"class_list":["post-422625","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422625","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=422625"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/422625\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/422626"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=422625"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=422625"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=422625"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}