IFAB has unanimously approved the so-called "Vinícius rule," a new law that allows referees to send off any player who covers their mouth while addressing an opponent on the pitch. It passed at a special meeting in Canada on Tuesday, and it's heading straight to the World Cup.
The rule exists because of one very specific problem: you can't punish what you can't prove. When Gianluca Prestianni covered his mouth during a confrontation with Vinícius Júnior, it made it impossible to conclusively establish that racist insults had been exchanged. Prestianni received a six-game ban for proven homophobic abuse — but Vinícius alleged racism, and that charge couldn't stick. That gap in accountability is exactly what FIFA president Gianni Infantino, the rule's primary architect, wants to close.
Not everyone's convinced this fixes the problem
Critics have a legitimate point. Players cover their mouths for plenty of non-sinister reasons — hiding tactical instructions from opposition coaches, staying off the broadcast microphone while talking to teammates. The rule, as written, makes no distinction. Cover your mouth near an opponent and you risk a red card, regardless of intent.
That's a blunt instrument. Referees will now have enormous discretion in deciding when a gesture crosses the line, which introduces its own inconsistency problems. Whether that trade-off is worth it depends on how seriously you take the underlying issue — and FIFA clearly takes it very seriously.
The other rule changes that flew under the radar
IFAB didn't stop there. Two additional laws were approved at the same meeting:
- Any player who walks off the pitch in protest of a referee's decision can be sent off. Coaching staff who encourage players to leave face the same sanction.
- A team that causes a match to be abandoned will, in principle, forfeit the game — a direct response to the chaotic scenes in the Africa Cup of Nations Final between Senegal and Morocco.
The mouth-covering rule grabs the headlines, but the abandonment clause may have longer-lasting consequences. It draws a clear line: if your team engineers chaos to avoid a result, you lose. Full stop.
All three changes take effect at the World Cup. Referees are about to have a lot more on their plates.
