{"id":611897,"date":"2026-04-28T20:43:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:43:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/611897\/"},"modified":"2026-04-28T20:43:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-28T20:43:08","slug":"fifa-approves-red-cards-for-footballers-covering-mouths","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/611897\/","title":{"rendered":"Fifa approves red cards for footballers covering mouths"},"content":{"rendered":"

Players at the World Cup could face a red card if they cover their mouths when speaking to opponents during confrontations. <\/p>\n

The decision was taken during a special meeting of the Fifa Council in Vancouver, Canada, on Tuesday, where two Fifa-proposed law amendments were approved.<\/p>\n

Players who leave the pitch in protest at a referee’s decisions could also now face a red card, following ugly scenes at the Africa Cup of Nations final between Morocco and Senegal.<\/p>\n

Both law changes have been approved as competition opt-ins by the International Football Association Board (Ifab).<\/p>\n

Fifa has confirmed they will be adopted at this summer’s World Cup.<\/p>\n

The issue of players covering their mouths became high profile in February when Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni raised his shirt while speaking to Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr during a Champions League game.<\/p>\n

The Argentina international was accused of racist abuse and provisionally banned for one match. Following a Uefa investigation, Prestianni was found guilty of homophobic conduct<\/a> and banned for six matches – three of which were suspended. <\/p>\n

The issue was discussed at the Ifab annual general meeting in Wales later that month where it was agreed the matter would be on the agenda at the Fifa Council.<\/p>\n

The decision remains at the absolute discretion of the referee, who will consider all circumstances before issuing a red card.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Players at the World Cup could face a red card if they cover their mouths when speaking to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611898,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[69],"tags":[403,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-611897","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-soccer","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611897","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611897"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611897\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611898"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}