Football regulators preparing to bring the measure into place by 2026 World Cup
Fifa president Gianni Infantino has called for stricter punishment of players who cover their mouths during on-field confrontations, arguing the gesture should raise immediate suspicion that unacceptable language has been used.
The proposal follows the allegations made by Vinicius Junior after Real Madrid’s recent Champions League playoff meeting with Benfica, in which the Brazilian forward claimed he was racially abused by Benfica midfielder Gianluca Prestianni.
Prestianni was shown to be covering his mouth with his shirt while speaking during the incident.
Uefa has since launched a formal investigation. Prestianni was suspended for the return leg between the clubs and could face a ban of up to 10 matches if found guilty.
Infantino believes football authorities should move towards decisively dealing with such behaviour.
“If a player covers his mouth and says something, and this has a racist consequence, then he has to be sent off, obviously,” Infantino 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. There are situations which we did not foresee [Prestianni case].
“Of course, when you deal with a disciplinary case, you have to analyse the situation, you have to have evidence, but we cannot just be satisfied with that going forward.”
The issue was discussed at Saturday’s meeting of the International Football Association Board (Ifab), where Fifa outlined plans aimed at discouraging players from shielding their conversations during disputes on the pitch ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
Mark Bullingham, chief executive of the English Football Association and an Ifab board member, indicated that the rule changes could arrive quickly.
“You can see when a player is talking to an opponent, there are very few circumstances where they should need when they’re confronting them to cover their mouth,” Bullingham said.
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Any formal change could potentially be introduced in time for this summer’s World Cup, with next month’s Fifa Congress in Vancouver expected to serve as the next key stage in discussions.
Alongside tougher disciplinary measures, Infantino also suggested football should consider encouraging accountability from those found guilty of abuse.
“Maybe we should also think about not just punishing, but also somehow allowing, changing our culture, allowing players or whoever does something to apologise,” he said.
“You can do things that you don’t want to do in a moment of anger [and] apologise and then the sanction has to be different, to move one step further and maybe we should think about something like that as well.
“And these are actions that we can take and we have to take in order to be serious about our fight against racism.”
