Gianluca Prestianni covered his mouth with his jersey while directing abuse at Vinicius Junior, an image cited in the changes now being called Qatar red cards for the 2026 World Cup.
FIFA rewrote its discipline rules: yellow cards will be wiped clean two times during the tournament, and referees may now send players off outright for covering their mouths during confrontations or for deliberately leaving the field to protest a decision.
FIFA Yellow-Card Reset Points
Any player carrying a yellow card out of the group stage starts the knockout round fresh; the rulebook applies the same reset after the quarterfinals. That two-times wipe replaces the previous single reset, a change made to address the longer schedule now that the tournament expands from 32 teams to 48 teams.
Accumulated cautions therefore cannot be carried from the group stage into the knockout phase, and cautions picked up in knockout matches will not automatically follow players past the quarterfinal reset. A second yellow in the same game still triggers an immediate red card and leaves the offender's team reduced to 10 men for the remainder of that match.
Gianluca Prestianni Mouth Incident
The mouth-covering red card stems from a February Champions League match in which Gianluca Prestianni covered his mouth with his jersey while directing abuse at Vinicius Junior. FIFA added a clear line: referees can now issue a red card for that gesture when it occurs during a confrontation.
On practical terms, a coach or player who uses a hand or jersey to conceal taunts now risks an automatic sending-off rather than only a yellow. A red-card dismissal carries a one-game suspension as standard, and FIFA’s disciplinary committee can extend that suspension or apply a fine if it judges the offense serious enough.
Senegal Walkout Sparks Rule
A separate addition targets deliberate walkoffs: a player who leaves the field to protest a referee’s call can be sent off, and the new walkoff rule also covers coaches or team officials who encourage players to leave. That measure was prompted by a January Africa Cup of Nations final in which Senegal’s players left the field for nearly 15 minutes to protest a penalty decision.
Under the new wording, a team that stages a coordinated walkoff faces immediate send-offs for participants plus disciplinary review afterward; the one-game automatic ban for a red card remains the baseline, with the committee empowered to add games or fines for aggravated conduct.
FIFA’s package therefore creates a contradiction: yellow-card accumulation is made less likely to force suspensions late in an expanded tournament through two resets, even as the threshold for straight red cards has been broadened to include mouth-covering and deliberate walkoffs. Players and staff now face lower risk from multi-match caution totals but higher risk of immediate dismissal for certain expressive acts.
How frequently referees will apply red cards for mouth-covering or deliberate walkoffs is the most urgent unanswered question for teams and players preparing for World Cup 2026.
