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The 48-team tournament in North America, commencing next week, will implement a series of major law changes, including two which pertain to VAR.
The World Cup 2026 will debut five new rules that aim to improve the quality and integrity of the games on display this summer across Canada, Mexico and the United States of America.
The tournament kicks off on June 11 with Mexico vs South Africa as its opener — the first two teams that will abide by the World Cup’s new rule set.
Five major law changes for World Cup 2026, two pertaining to VAR
The first VAR rule change pertains to corners, which, historically, have been unable to be checked — frequently leading to incorrect corners being given and, occasionally, goals.
The check must be performed quickly and before the restart, meaning that teams cannot challenge the corner after it has been taken, regardless of whether the decision was correct.
This is akin to the NBA’s challenge rules, which require any member of the team to first call a time-out and inform the referee of their intention to challenge an on-court decision.
If that process does not occur quick enough — or, in the case of the World Cup, the team and its staff do not react in enough time to or even notice the perceived error — the decision will stand regardless of its outcome on the game.
The second VAR rule change pertains to when a player receives two yellow cards, resulting in the offender being sent off.
VAR can now check the player in question’s second booking, however, they cannot check the player’s first yellow card on the basis of them potentially receiving another.
This rule change clearly aims to prevent unfair sending-offs, although, it remains entirely possible that a player’s initial booking could be unfair, and their second warranted.
One new law change aims to clamp down on ‘tactical time-outs’ taken by goalkeepers who wish to disrupt the game’s momentum and allow their team to hold technical area talks.
In the event of a goalkeeper going down injured, the players of both teams will be prevented from going over to their technical areas for team talks.
Similarly, the introduction of countdowns to prevent time-wasting, akin to the serve clock used in tennis matches, has also been implemented in law.
Goal-kicks and throw-ins will be subject to a five second countdown clock, aiming to prevent time-wasting and ensure smoother flows within each game at the World Cup 2026.
Substitutes leaving the pitch will be subject to a similar clock — this time, 10 seconds — and players who violate the countdowns will be punished.
The final law change pertains to players who cover their mouths — a controversial rule change that fans across the globe have expressed bewilderment over.
Players typically do so to prevent cameras and lip-readers from being able to gauge their discussions, be it with their team-mates or the opposition’s players.
Those featuring in the World Cup will now be shown a red card if they display this behaviour, but only if they do so in a confrontational manner.
The aim is to prevent players who use this mouth covering for plausible deniability, in the event of abusive language being uttered.
Football fans will see all the aforementioned rule changes in action across June and July, as the World Cup's biggest tournament yet gets underway.
