The International Football Association Board (IFAB) has voted in favour of a new regulation change for the upcoming World Cup, and initially only intended for the upcoming football competition in the US, Mexico, and Canada between June 11 and July 19. It was a decision taken two days before the annual FIFA Congress in Vancouver on Thursday that responds to two of the greatest football controversies this season: the racist insults by Prestianni to Vinícius, and the AFCON Final when Senegal players left the pitch.
This new rule says that referees can show straight red cards in these two instances: when a player covers his mouth when confronting an opponent, often used to insult and avoid having the lips read, or when a player leaves the pitch to protest a refereeing decision.
In a Champions League knockout play-off match between Real Madrid and Benfica, Gianluca Prestianni from Benfica allegedly used racist slur towards Madrid's Vinícius, but he covered his mouth so it couldn't be proved; Prestianni was sanctioned instead for homophobic abuse and given a lesser sentence than if it was racist abuse.
And in the Africa Cup of Nations Final in January, the Senegal players left the pitch in protest of a referee decision; they returned 17 minutes later and, in the end, they won the match. Their title was stripped away months later because they broke the rules of the competition and given to Morocco, although the final decision now depends on the Court of Arbitration of Sport.
These rules will be used in World Cup this summer but it will be up to other competitions' organisers to decide if they want to use these rules for red card or not.
