Players covering their mouths during confrontations with opponents could receive a red card, and players who leave the field in protest at a referee’s decision may ​be red-carded, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) said on Tuesday.

Both of the FIFA-proposed ‌laws were unanimously approved by IFAB at a special meeting in Vancouver, Canada and will be implemented for this year’s World Cup.

“As was agreed at The IFAB’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in February, these decisions ​follow thorough FIFA-led consultations with all key stakeholders,” a statement read.

“At the discretion ​of the competition organiser, any player covering their mouth in a confrontational ⁠situation with an opponent may be sanctioned with a red card,” it said.

FIFA president ​Gianni Infantino said in February that players who cover their mouths while speaking to opponents ​during confrontations should be sent off.

His comments came weeks after an incident in a Champions League game in which Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni was accused of making discriminatory slurs to Vinicius Jr after the Brazilian scored ​Real Madrid’s goal in a 1–0 win in Lisbon.

The incident, in which Prestianni covered his ​mouth with his shirt, prompted the referee to activate UEFA’s anti-discrimination protocol, halting the match.

Argentine winger Prestianni, ‌who ⁠denied the accusation, was earlier this month handed a six-match suspension by UEFA for discriminatory conduct that was deemed homophobic.

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Australia midfielder Jackson Irvine says soccer’s credibility as a force for good has been undermined by the game’s global governing body, accusing FIFA of making a ​mockery of its Human Rights Policy.

In an interview with Reuters, Irvine took aim at FIFA’s decision to give its inaugural Peace Prize to U.S. ‌President Donald Trump at the World Cup draw in December for “promoting peace and unity around the world”.

The U.S., which is co-hosting the World Cup with Canada and Mexico, launched a military strike on Venezuela a month after the draw and began joint airstrikes with Israel on Iran on February 28.

“As an organisation, you would have to say decisions like the one that we saw awarding this peace prize ​makes a mockery of what they’re trying to do with the human rights charter and trying to use football as a global driving force for good ​and positive change in the world,” Irvine told Reuters.

“Decisions like that feel like they just set us back in the perceived market ⁠of what football currently is, especially at the top level where it’s becoming so disconnected from society and the grassroots of what the game actually is and means in ​our communities and in the world.”

FIFA and the White House did not provide immediate comment.

Human rights groups and activists have widely condemned the awarding of the Peace Prize to Trump. Norway’s ​soccer federation on Monday called for FIFA to abolish it to avoid being drawn into politics.

STATEMENT OF PROTEST

FIFA published its first Human Rights Policy in 2017. Its Human Rights Framework for the 2026 World Cup includes provisions for host cities to promote inclusion, protect freedom of expression and prohibit discrimination during the June 11 to July 19 tournament.

However, rights groups have said FIFA needs to do more to press ​the U.S. to address the risks of human rights abuses for athletes, fans and workers, pointing to a hardline immigration crackdown and deportation drive pursued by the Trump administration.

Irvine, who ​has earned 80 caps for Australia and captained the team, plays in the German Bundesliga for St. Pauli, a club renowned for its progressive culture.

The 33-year-old has long been vocal about human ‌rights concerns and ⁠was a driving force in the Australian team’s statement of protest against Qatar’s human rights record before the 2022 World Cup.

Irvine and 15 other Australian players raised concerns in a video about migrant worker conditions in Qatar and called for decriminalisation of same-sex relationships in the Gulf nation.

Four years on, Irvine has similar concerns about human rights in the United States and the treatment of LGBT groups and other communities.

“It’s not an issue just in the Middle East, in America we’re seeing more and more of the rights of these communities … being ​taken away all over the country,” he ​said.

“We have to sincerely hope that ⁠we see a lot of open support in that space as well.”

Players have used World Cups as a platform to promote various causes, including anti-racism and gender equality, but FIFA bans political, religious and personal slogans and imagery from team equipment.

FIFA blocked the captains of ​seven European teams from wearing rainbow armbands on the field during the 2022 tournament to protest Qatar’s laws against same-sex relationships.

Players ​at the 2023 Women’s ⁠World Cup in Australia and New Zealand were given a choice of eight FIFA-sanctioned armbands to promote social causes like gender equality, inclusion and anti-violence.

FIFA has not confirmed whether players will be offered sanctioned armbands for the upcoming World Cup and did not provide immediate comment when asked by Reuters.

Irvine said he hoped armbands and other symbols for advocacy would be welcomed at ⁠the tournament, ​and that players would be given leeway to express themselves.

However, he said he would also understand if ​athletes were wary about the potential blowback for making a stand.

“You’ve got a group who are unbelievably supportive and really love to see people in these positions speak up about issues that they care about,” he said.

“And ​on the other side, the opposite, the polarisation has gone further.

“People really actively dislike players trying to bring politics into sport.”

-Reuters

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• Summary

• *Klaveness urges FIFA to avoid political entanglement by ending the Peace Prize
• *FIFA criticised for awarding inaugural peace prize to Donald Trump
• *NFF supports FairSquare’s call for an investigation into possible breach ​of FIFA ethics

*FIFA should scrap its peace prize ‌to avoid getting drawn into politics, Norwegian Football Association (NFF) President Lise Klaveness said on Monday, suggesting that the awarding of such prizes be left to the Nobel Institute in Oslo.

Led by Gianni Infantino, world ​soccer’s governing body came under fire for awarding its inaugural peace prize to U.S. ​President Donald Trump in December at the draw for the 2026 World ⁠Cup.

The FIFA peace award was seen by many as a consolation prize for Trump, ​who has said on numerous occasions that he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize ​and whose country will co-host this year’s World Cup with Canada and Mexico.

“We (the NFF) want to see it (the FIFA peace prize) abolished. We don’t think it’s part of FIFA’s mandate to give such a ​prize; we think we have a Nobel Institute that does that job independently already,” ​Klaveness told an online press briefing.

“We think it’s important for football federations, confederations and also FIFA to ‌try ⁠to avoid situations where this arm ‘s-length distance to state leaders is challenged, and these prizes will typically be very political if you don’t have really good instruments and experience to make them independent, with juries and criteria, et cetera.

“That is full-time work, it’s so ​sensitive, I think from ​a resource angle, ⁠from a mandate angle, but most importantly from a governance angle, I think it should be avoided also in the future,” she ​said.

The 45-year-old lawyer said the NFF board would be writing a ​letter saying ⁠it supported calls for an investigation into the awarding of the prize by non-profit organisation FairSquare, which has alleged that Infantino and FIFA may have breached their own ethical guidelines regarding political ⁠impartiality in ​awarding the prize.

“There should be checks and balances ​on these issues and this complaint from FairSquare should be treated with a transparent timeline, and that the reasoning ​and the conclusion should be transparent,” Klaveness said

-Reuters

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