Football’s lawmakers have signed off on one of the biggest batches of rule changes in years, and most of them arrive in time for the 2026 World Cup. The tournament kicks off on 11 June across the United States, Mexico and Canada. The International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body that writes the Laws of the Game, approved the package at its 140th Annual General Meeting in Hensol, Wales, and announced it at the end of May. The new laws formally take effect on 1 July, but the World Cup will use them from the first whistle.
Most of the coverage has focused on the eye-catching rules, like red cards for players who cover their mouths during confrontations. The more interesting story is what sits underneath almost all of these changes. It is technology. The 2026 World Cup is shaping up to be the biggest test yet of officiating that leans on cameras, sensors and software.
Start with VAR. IFAB gave the video assistant referee three new situations where it can step in when there is clear evidence. It can now correct a red card that came from a wrong second yellow. It can fix cases of mistaken identity, where the wrong player is booked or sent off. And it can overturn a corner kick that was awarded in error, as long as the call is quick and does not hold up the restart. VAR can also flag a foul that happened before the ball was in play at a set-piece. When VAR first arrived at a World Cup, we explained what it is and the four calls it was built for, and mistaken identity was one of them. It has taken until now to become something VAR can act on live.
The flashier piece of kit is the referee body camera. FIFA trialled it at the 2025 Club World Cup under the name “Referee View”, and the footage feeds straight into the live broadcast and onto stadium screens. The idea is to show fans the moment from the referee’s own eyeline. We wrote about that body camera when it was being tested last year. It is now permitted in the Laws of the Game.
Then there is offside. FIFA’s semi-automated offside system has been in place since the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. It uses cameras that track the ball and up to 29 points on each player around 50 times a second, plus a sensor inside the ball. For 2026 it has been sped up, with some offside alerts now going straight to the assistant referee through an audio cue. The flag goes up with almost no delay. FIFA is also building AI 3D avatars of all 1,248 players at the tournament, scanned in about a second each, to replace the generic figures used in offside replays. When we detailed the technology powering CHAN 2024 in Kenya, the local VAR room was a long way from this AI-assisted setup. The 2026 World Cup is where that version goes mainstream.
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The time-wasting rules are smaller, and they all rely on the referee acting as a visible clock. There is now a five-second visual countdown for throw-ins and goal kicks. If the referee thinks a restart is being dragged out, they raise a hand and count. Miss the window, and a slow throw-in is handed to the other team, while a slow goal kick becomes a corner. This copies the goalkeeper rule, where keepers now get eight seconds to release the ball, up from six, after FIFA found some were holding it for up to 25 seconds. Substituted players must leave within 10 seconds at the nearest touchline. A player treated on the pitch has to stay off it for one minute once play restarts. Each half also gets a three-minute hydration break around the 22nd minute.
Two of the conduct rules come from real incidents. The mouth-covering red card follows the case of Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni, who pulled his shirt over his mouth while allegedly insulting Real Madrid’s VinΓcius JΓΊnior in a Champions League tie. UEFA banned him for six games for discriminatory conduct, a sanction it deemed homophobic, and asked FIFA to extend it worldwide. The walk-off rule traces back to the chaotic Africa Cup of Nations final, where Senegal left the pitch in protest at a VAR-awarded penalty. Senegal won 1-0 on the day. CAF later ruled they had forfeited the match and handed the title to Morocco 3-0.
We have followed this for a while, from explaining VAR at its first World Cup to the arrival of VAR and goal-line tech in Kenya for CHAN. The 2026 changes point the same way. More of the refereeing now runs on technology. When the tournament starts, watch for the referee’s raised hand at restarts, the body-cam clips on the big screen, and how fast the offside flags go up. Those are the changes you will notice first.
