FIFA introduced one of their boldest new rules for the 2026 World Cup, cover your mouth during a confrontation and get a red card. Simple, clear, no exceptions.
Miguel Almirón became the first player in World Cup history to be sent off for covering his mouth, dismissed in first-half stoppage time during Paraguay’s Group D match against Turkey after exchanging words with Mert Müldür and covering his hand over his lips.
Referee Ivan Barton went straight to VAR and came back with a red card. No hesitation. No debate. The new rule was applied exactly as written. Almirón walked. Paraguay played over an hour with ten men.
The rule was introduced by FIFA president Gianni Infantino following an incident in the Champions League where Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni was accused of directing racist slurs at Real Madrid’s Vinícius Júnior under the cover of his shirt.
The intention was noble. The execution, however, is already falling apart.
Fast forward three days to Foxborough, Massachusetts. England vs Ghana.
Jude Bellingham walks toward the Ghana bench after fouling Jerome Opoku, exchanges words with Ghana manager Carlos Queiroz.
He was caught on camera covering his mouth while speaking to Ghana’s Jordan Ayew moments later.
Same tournament. Same rule. Same gesture.
Despite covering his mouth while speaking during a confrontation, Bellingham escaped without even a yellow card.
Queiroz was furious, and had every right to be. “VAR went for a coffee,” he said. “It’s natural, I would like to also take my coffees once in a while, but it was a clear penalty, red card.”
Almirón covers his mouth during a confrontation with a Turkish defender and gets a red card, suspended for the next match.
Paraguay’s play ten men while Bellingham covers his mouth during a confrontation with a Ghanaian player and walks away as a free man.
Not yellow. Not a review. Not even a conversation on the screen.
Paraguay coach Gustavo Alfaro said Almirón apologized to his teammates after the match for the position he had put them in.
A mistake that was punished ruthlessly in his case and completely ignored in another.
This is not about whether Bellingham deserved a red card.
Also read: “Do we still have VAR?” — Carlos Queiroz Quizzes FIFA
This is about FIFA introducing a rule, enforcing it with maximum severity against one player, and then pretending it does not exist three days later against another.
Alfaro himself said it best before the Almirón situation even became a talking point: “The fear I have is that football loses its essence. In football, there’s friction, fights, clashes.”
FIFA wanted consistency. What they have produced is the opposite, a rule that is being applied to some players and ignored for others, with no explanation and no accountability.
The 2026 World Cup is only two weeks old. And already, the officials are making as many headlines as the players.
