"We are trying to clean the game as much as possible." That's FIFA refereeing chief Pierluigi Collina summing up the most significant overhaul to football's laws in years — all of it taking effect at the 2026 World Cup and carrying into domestic seasons worldwide from 2026-27.
IFAB approved the changes. Now referees have to enforce them, in front of the biggest audience the sport has.
The changes that will actually affect games
The most eye-catching rule is the one on mouth covering. If a player covers their mouth during a confrontation with another player, they get sent off. Full stop. The rule was born directly from the Vinícius Júnior–Prestianni incident in the Champions League, where the ambiguity of what was said — and whether it was racist or homophobic — became a controversy that ran for weeks. FIFA clearly decided it's easier to remove the ambiguity entirely. Collina was careful to clarify: casual conversation with a covered mouth won't be penalized. But anything confrontational? Red card.
Time-wasting is also getting a serious crackdown. Referees will raise a hand and begin a five-second countdown for throw-ins and goal-kicks. Miss the window on a throw-in and possession flips. Miss it on a goal-kick and the opposition gets a corner. Goalkeepers already had an eight-second limit introduced for 2025-26 to release the ball during play. Now substitutions come with a 10-second clock too — once the fourth official's board goes up, the departing player has 10 seconds to reach the nearest touchline. Fail that and their team plays a man down until the first stoppage after a minute has elapsed. MLS trialed this in 2024. It's now going global.
Injured players who receive on-field treatment will also have to leave the pitch for at least a minute after play resumes — the exceptions being goalkeepers, head collisions between teammates, severe injuries, and players who were about to take a penalty. Managers also won't be able to use a downed goalkeeper as cover to call a strategy huddle.
VAR gets a wider remit
VAR was originally a goal-line and penalty-area tool. That's changing. Referees can now call on VAR for clearly incorrect second yellow cards, cases of mistaken identity on bookings, and incorrectly awarded corner kicks — though only if the reversal can happen quickly without delaying a restart. Goal kicks that should have been corners won't be overturned retrospectively.
Walking off the pitch in protest now carries consequences too. Players who leave the field in dissent get sent off. Team staff who encourage them face a red card. And if a team abandons a match entirely, the forfeit is automatic. That rule exists because of Senegal walking off during January's AFCON final against Morocco — they came back 16 minutes later, eventually won in extra time, then had the result overturned to a 3-0 forfeit. The appeal is still running.
Every World Cup match will also include a three-minute hydration break midway through each half, around the 23-minute mark — indoors or outdoors. Pochettino already used it tactically in the US win over Senegal. Expect everyone else to follow.
A lot of these rules close loopholes that players and coaches had been exploiting for years. The betting side of things gets interesting too — with tighter time limits on restarts and automatic red cards for protest walkoffs, game management just became a much riskier business. Teams that rely on slowing matches down have lost some of their toolkit.
