World Cup 2026 will feature a large number of rule changes for referees, studied and approved in the previous months, and confirmed by FIFA's chief of referees Pierluigi Collina on Sunday. The latest of those rules allows the use of Video Assistant Referee (VAR) for clear offences committed by the attacking team (not the defender team) in corners or free kicks before the ball is set in motion.
If VAR finds out that a foul was committed by an attacking player that had direct impact on a goal, penalty kick or disciplinary action, before the ball was put in motion, they will recommend the on-field referee to review the action on the monitors, and it could result on the corner or free kick being retaken.
"We think this is very unfair that the goal is given when the defender is prevented from being able to defend," Collina explained. "A clear, illegal block made by an attacker. The only objective was to prevent the defender from being able to defend on his opponent."
Another new change is that players won't be allowed to leave the pitch to go to the technical area to talk to coaches when a goalkeepers is injured (or as it often happens, "fakes" an injury to give time to their players to have an improvised timeout moment with the coach).
During World Cup (and after a revision, maybe in other tournaments), players will be forced to stay on the pitch, although players will have this "free" timeout moment with two mandatory hydration breaks on every match, two for each half.
Other changes previously reported include sanctions (red cards) when a player covers his mouth, countdowns for substitutions (10 seconds for players to leave the field at the nearest point, five seconds for throw-ins or goal-kicks), and extending VAR's rights to review corners and second yellow cards.