The 2026 World Cup will be played with expanded VAR, countdowns and stricter penalties for time-wasting
The 2026 World Cup will not be different only because of the number of national teams, matches and host cities, but also because of rules that could significantly change the rhythm of matches. FIFA's tournament in Canada, Mexico and the United States of America begins on 11 June 2026, and according to FIFA's official schedule, 104 matches will be played in a format with 48 national teams. In such an expanded competition, every stoppage, every review and every tactical slowing of play becomes even more visible, so FIFA and the International Football Association Board, the body that makes the Laws of the Game, confirmed ahead of the tournament a package of changes aimed at faster match flow and clearer refereeing powers.
According to FIFA's announcement after the 140th annual general meeting of IFAB, the changes are intended as a response to demands from football stakeholders to protect effective playing time and reduce the number of situations in which teams can deliberately interrupt the rhythm of a match. Some of the measures relate to the Video Assistant Referee system, some to substitutions, throw-ins and goalkeepers' clearances, and some to player behaviour in conflicts with opponents or referees. Although individual solutions in the Laws of the Game 2026/27 formally have a broader framework of application, FIFA announced that the key changes will also be applied at the 2026 World Cup, which begins before 1 July, the date from which new editions of the laws are usually applied in world football.
VAR gets new, but still limited powers
The greatest attention is being drawn by the expansion of the VAR protocol. According to IFAB's official document on changes to the Laws of the Game 2026/27, video match officials will be able to intervene in additional situations that until now have mostly remained outside the scope of video review. This primarily concerns a red card resulting from a clearly incorrect second yellow card. In other words, VAR will not be given the authority to review every yellow card, but it will be able to intervene if a second yellow card leads to a sending-off and the available footage clearly shows that it was a serious error.
The second novelty relates to mistaken identity. IFAB states that a VAR review may be used when a yellow or red card has been shown to the wrong player, while the offence was committed by another player from one of the teams. This is an important difference compared with a general review of an offence: in such cases, according to IFAB's explanation, the identity of the offender is primarily checked, and the entire refereeing assessment of the incident is not reopened, unless it is connected with a goal, a penalty kick or a direct red card. The aim is to avoid obvious injustices without turning every disciplinary decision into a long video analysis.
The third change relates to wrongly awarded corner kicks. According to IFAB, competitions may allow VAR to check a clearly incorrectly awarded corner kick, but only if the decision can be corrected immediately and without delaying the restart of play. If the corner has already been taken quickly, the decision will not be changed. This is an attempt to find a balance between preventing an obvious error that can lead to a goal and the need to ensure that VAR does not become a source of new, lengthy stoppages. In practice, this will mean that the speed of reaction in the video operations room will be decisive: the check must be short, clear and feasible before play restarts.
Ten seconds to leave the field during a substitution
One of the most concrete changes concerns substitutions. According to IFAB's protocol on time-limited substitutions, a player leaving the game must leave the field within ten seconds of the substitution board being displayed or, if there is no board, of the referee's signal for the substitution. As a rule, the player must leave at the nearest point on the boundary line, unless the referee determines otherwise for reasons of safety, injury or other justified circumstances. The previous practice in which players often walked slowly towards the technical area, especially in the closing stages of matches, should thereby be significantly limited.
The penalty is not an automatic yellow card, but a temporary numerical disadvantage for the team. If the player does not leave the field within the prescribed ten seconds, he must still leave, but his replacement may not enter play until the first stoppage after one minute of playing time has elapsed. According to IFAB, that minute is measured by running time, and the substitution cannot be cancelled, nor can another substitute be chosen. The player who took too long to leave will be cautioned only if the delay is excessive, which leaves referees room to distinguish deliberate time-wasting from situations in which leaving is objectively not possible within ten seconds.
The protocol also provides for practical exceptions. The referee may decide not to apply the restriction if an injury clearly prevents the player from leaving the field quickly or if leaving at the nearest point is not safe. In the case of multiple substitutions during the same stoppage, all players leaving must leave the field within ten seconds of the last indicated substitution. This is intended to prevent several substitutions from being used as an extended stoppage and an additional tactical breather.
Countdown for throw-ins and goal kicks
Throw-ins and goal kicks are also entering a new phase of stricter time control. According to IFAB's protocol on the countdown for throw-ins and goal kicks, the referee may start a visible five-second countdown if he considers that a team is deliberately delaying the restart of play. The countdown may be indicated by whistle, voice and a clear hand signal, and the referee does not have to wait until the player already has the ball in his hands or until the ball is placed for the restart if it is obvious that time is being wasted. The document gives examples such as slow retrieval of the ball, taking up the wrong position for a throw-in or placing the ball in the wrong place for a goal kick.
The consequences are direct and easy to understand. If the ball is not in play when the five seconds expire, the throw-in is awarded to the opposing team from the same place from which it was originally supposed to be taken. If there is time-wasting with a goal kick, the opponent receives a corner kick from the side of the field closest to the place from which the goal kick should have been taken. According to FIFA's explanation, this logic builds on an earlier rule intended to prevent goalkeepers from holding the ball in their hands for too long, and now the countdown principle is being extended to two more common situations for wasting time.
IFAB emphasises, however, that the aim is not to punish a team that is actually taking the restart at the moment when the countdown ends. If the player is in the process of throwing in or kicking the ball while the referee reaches the end of the countdown, he should not be punished. The rule is aimed at obvious and deliberate slowing down, not at mechanically punishing every situation in which the restart of play has taken a few seconds longer because of circumstances on the field. Precisely for that reason, the referee's judgement will remain important, but spectators, players and coaches will have a more visible signal that the time to restart play has expired.
Injuries should no longer serve as tactical breathers
A separate protocol regulates situations in which a player receives assessment or treatment on the field. According to IFAB's protocol on off-field treatment and assessment, an outfield player whose injury stops play or who has received assessment or treatment on the pitch must, as a rule, leave the field and remain out of play for one minute after the restart. That minute is measured by running time, and the player may return only with the referee's permission. If the ball is in play, the return must be from the touchline, while during a stoppage the player may return from any boundary line.
IFAB's official explanation gives two reasons for such a measure. The first is medical: staff are given time to assess off the field whether the player can continue the match. The second is competitive: it reduces the possibility that short injury assessments are used as a way to interrupt the rhythm, give instructions or delay the opponent's pressure. The rule does not mean that serious injuries will be treated more quickly or superficially; on the contrary, the protocol specifically states that serious injuries, especially head injuries, cardiac problems or life-threatening events, are exempt from the general pattern.
The exceptions are also important for understanding the application. A player does not have to remain out of play for one minute if the injured player is the goalkeeper, if the goalkeeper and an outfield player have collided, if two players from the same team have collided and need treatment, if it is a serious injury, or if the player has been injured by an offence for which the opponent was cautioned or sent off. The exception also applies when a penalty kick has been awarded and the injured player is to be the taker. This prevents a team from being additionally punished because of an opponent's serious foul or because of a situation in which medical intervention is clearly necessary.
Stricter rules of conduct in verbal confrontations
Particular weight is carried by changes connected with discrimination and inappropriate behaviour. In a circular dated 19 May 2026, IFAB stated that at a special meeting in Vancouver an optional amendment had been approved under which a player, substitute or substituted player may be sent off if, in a provocative, derisive or inflammatory situation with an opponent, he covers his mouth while communicating. The document explains that the purpose of such a measure is to combat racism, discrimination, insults and other forms of abuse that someone tries to conceal with a hand, upper arm, shirt or another way of covering the mouth.
In its announcement on that decision, FIFA highlighted that the measures will be introduced at the 2026 World Cup and communicated to all 48 participating national teams. The rule does not start from the assumption that every covering of the mouth is in itself discriminatory speech, but it gives the competition organiser and referees a stronger instrument in conflict situations in which such behaviour may be used to try to prevent the identification of insulting or discriminatory content. In practice, this will require referees to make a clear assessment of the context, because the sanction is linked to confrontational communication and the way in which it was carried out.
The same circular also introduces the possibility of stricter sanctioning for leaving the field in protest against a refereeing decision. According to IFAB, a player may be sent off if he leaves the field in protest against a referee's decision, including a decision on the continuation or restart of play. A similar sanction may be applied to players or team officials who encourage others to leave the field, and IFAB states that a team that causes a match to be abandoned may in principle lose the match by default, depending on the competition rules. This sends a message that disputes over decisions must be resolved within match procedures, not by collectively interrupting play.
A bigger tournament requires a clearer match rhythm
The changes come at a moment when the World Cup is entering the most extensive format in its history. According to FIFA's schedule, the tournament will be played from 11 June to 19 July 2026, in three host countries and across 104 matches. More matches also mean more situations in which several minutes lost to substitutions, injuries, throw-ins or disputed stoppages can affect the tempo of the competition, broadcast schedules, player recovery and the perception of fairness. That is precisely why the emphasis of the new package is on visibility and predictability: the countdown is clear to everyone in the stadium, the consequence of a slow substitution is determined in advance, and the additional VAR powers are more narrowly defined.
For coaches, the rules are likely to change how they manage the closing stages of matches. A substitution in the 88th minute will no longer have the same effect if the player leaving cannot slow his walk towards the bench without the risk that his team will temporarily be left with one player fewer. Teams that take a long time to prepare a throw-in or goal kick will have to reckon with the possibility of losing the ball or even conceding a corner to the opponent. Medical teams and coaching staffs will have to distinguish more clearly between situations that require urgent treatment on the field and those in which a player can be assessed quickly off the pitch.
For referees and VAR rooms, the challenge will be consistency. The new rules provide additional tools, but they do not remove the need for judgement. The referee must assess when deliberate time-wasting is involved, when an injury requires an exception and when covering the mouth is part of confrontational behaviour that falls within the scope of the new sanction. VAR, meanwhile, will have to act quickly, especially for corners, because IFAB clearly states that such a decision can be changed only if this can be done immediately and without delaying the restart. If the checks turn into long stoppages, part of the point of the entire package would be lost.
Transparency as the central goal
The common thread of all the changes is an attempt to make decisions more understandable and to reduce the room for tactical exploitation of grey areas. When the referee raises his hand and starts counting down, everyone understands that the restart of play has been delayed for too long. When a player being substituted does not leave in time, the consequence is not reduced merely to a subjective assessment of a yellow card, but to a measurable punishment for the team. When VAR intervenes for a second yellow card or mistaken identity, the purpose is not to expand video review to every duel, but to correct rare yet potentially decisive errors.
At the same time, the new rules will not remove all controversies. The question of how quickly VAR must identify a wrong corner, when exactly time-wasting becomes deliberate and how covering the mouth during a verbal confrontation will be assessed will remain sensitive points. But according to the available official FIFA and IFAB documents, the direction is clear: the 2026 World Cup will be the first major test for a package of rules that seeks to speed up the game, reduce hidden forms of unsporting behaviour and give referees more visible, predefined tools for controlling the match.
Sources:
- FIFA – official announcement on IFAB measures to improve match flow, VAR protocol, substitutions, injuries and countdowns (link)
- IFAB – document “Changes to the Laws of the Game 2026/27” with an overview of rule changes and the VAR protocol (link)
- IFAB – protocol on time-limited substitutions and the consequences of exceeding ten seconds (link)
- IFAB – protocol on the countdown for throw-ins and goal kicks and sanctions after the five seconds expire (link)
- IFAB – protocol on off-field treatment and injury assessment, including exceptions to the one-minute absence (link)
- IFAB – Circular no. 33 on covering the mouth in conflict with an opponent, leaving the field in protest and additional disciplinary measures (link)
- FIFA – official schedule of the 2026 World Cup with dates, matches and the 48-team tournament format (link)