Footballers who cover their mouths could be sent off following IFAB meeting

Players who put their hands over their mouths during confrontations with opponents could be sent off in the future, according to FIFA boss Gianni Infantino.

The directive was discussed during the latest general meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB), who met in Wales at the weekend to consider new measures that could be brought in ahead of this summer’s World Cup.

The issue of players covering their mouths is in response to the incident in which Real Madrid star Vinicius Jr alleged that he was racially abused by Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni, who concealed what he said by speaking behind his shirt, during the two sides’ Champions League play-off last month. Prestianni, who denies the allegations, was handed a provisional one-match ban as UEFA opened an investigation.

Why IFAB is banning players from covering their mouths

In the wake of this incident, football’s lawmakers have now confirmed that they intend to bring in the new regulation ahead of the World Cup, which kicks off in just over three months.

“Clearly there are circumstances we want to prevent,” said Mark Bullingham, chief executive of the English Football Association and an IFAB board member in a press conference, as per the Athletic.

“We need to consult the game more broadly and work out where we would avoid any unforeseen circumstances. You can see when a player is talking to an opponent, there are very few circumstances where they should need to cover their mouth when they are confronting them.

“We need to look at everything and make sure if we were going to bring in a rule change or a penalty for that, that we’re not going to create further problems. There’s a process we’ll go through but there’s a desire to bring something in relatively quickly.”

A FIFA Congress is scheduled to take place in Vancouver on April 30, when the matter is set to be discussed further and the final sanction confirmed, with the lawmakers needing to decide if the offence will be punished by a yellow or red card and resolving which interactions are covered by the sanction, given players will often put their hands over their mouths when talking to team-mates or coaches.

Infantino believes that match officials should work from a presumption that players have said ‘something they shouldn’t have’ when covering their mouths.

"If a player covers his mouth and says something, and this has a racist consequence, then he has to be sent off, obviously,” the FIFA chief told Sky News.

"There must be a presumption that he has said something he shouldn't have said, otherwise he wouldn't have had to cover his mouth. If you do not have something to hide, you don't hide your mouth when you say something. That's it, as simple as that."

In the wake of their Vinicius Jr incident, Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois last week said he would welcome a ban on players covering their mouth, if it would help eradicate racism.

“With Prestianni, it’s complicated because it will always be one person’s word against another’s,” said the former Chelsea stopper. “We are 100 per cent with Vinicius, who has suffered a lot from this (racist abuse), but with the mouth covered, you can never know absolutely, and Benfica are bound to defend their player. It’s down to UEFA and the institutions to act.”