"Landmark" is a word that gets thrown around. But Pierluigi Collina, FIFA's Chief Refereeing Officer, used it to describe IFAB's latest batch of law changes — and for once, it fits. The 2026 World Cup, kicking off June 11 across the United States, Mexico and Canada, will be the first major tournament to operate under a significantly rewritten rulebook.
Some changes are procedural. Others will directly decide who stays on the pitch and who goes home early. All of them matter.
The changes most likely to affect results
The mouth-covering rule is the one generating the most heat. Any player who covers their mouth with a hand, arm or shirt during a confrontational situation gets a red card. The rule was born directly from the Gianluca Prestianni incident — the Benfica forward was accused of making discriminatory slurs to Vinicius Jr while his mouth was covered, earning a worldwide ban from UEFA. IFAB's response: remove the ambiguity entirely. Friendly conversations between teammates on opposing sides won't be punished, but in a high-stakes World Cup knockout match, the line between "confrontational" and "casual" will live entirely in the referee's hands.
The rule on players leaving the field to protest is equally severe. Walk off in protest at a decision? Red card. Any team official who encourages players to do the same faces the same punishment. And if a team causes a match to be abandoned, they forfeit it. The catalyst here was Senegal's walkout during the Africa Cup of Nations final against Morocco — a protest that, remarkably, they followed up by returning to win 1-0 after extra time. That loophole is now firmly closed.
From a match-betting angle, red cards under these new provisions could arrive faster and from less predictable situations than before. A volatile player on a yellow in a tense quarterfinal now carries more risk than ever — worth factoring into any card-related markets.
The tempo rules and VAR overhaul
IFAB is clearly tired of time-wasting, and the countdown rules make that plain. Referees will raise a hand and begin a visible five-second countdown for throw-ins and goal-kicks. Fail to take the throw-in in time and possession flips. Delay a goal-kick past the countdown and the opponent gets a corner. Simple, visible, and with teeth.
Substitutions get tighter too:
- Players have 10 seconds to leave the field once the board goes up.
- They must exit at the nearest point on the boundary line — no more slow walks across the pitch.
- If a player refuses to leave within 10 seconds, the substitute cannot enter until the first stoppage after a full minute has passed from restart.
The VAR protocol gets its first serious rewrite since 2017. Collina acknowledged the original rules were written with "very limited experience" — a candid admission. VAR can now intervene to correct a yellow card that should have been a red, fix mistaken identity in bookings, overturn incorrectly awarded corner kicks if done immediately, and flag fouls committed before a set-piece restart. That last one is new territory and has the potential to create real controversy in tight games.
There are also mandatory three-minute hydration breaks in each half, roughly around the 22nd minute — sensible given the summer heat in North American host cities. And outfield players receiving treatment on the pitch must leave the field for one minute after the restart, with exceptions for serious injuries and certain goalkeeper situations.
Collina framed all of this around tackling discrimination, cutting time-wasting, and improving the experience for players and fans. Whether the referees can apply these rules consistently across 104 World Cup matches, under the brightest spotlight in football, is a separate question entirely.
