The 2026 World Cup will be the biggest, longest and most expensive – and the most intricately refereed – ever seen. With 48 teams and 26-man squads confirmed, the tournament running from 11 June to 19 July in the US, Canada and Mexico will feature Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo at their sixth World Cup, alongside Neymar and Mexico’s veteran goalkeeper Guillermo Ochoa. But the football itself will be played under a radically expanded video assistant referee protocol that introduces two new red card offences and obliges VAR to check every corner decision.
The scale of the tournament is unprecedented. All 48 competing nations have announced their squads, including debutants Curacao, the smallest nation, and Jordan. England’s squad is notably without Phil Foden, Cole Palmer and Trent Alexander-Arnold. Germany have recalled 40-year-old Manuel Neuer as first-choice keeper, while Bosnia-Herzegovina’s Edin Dzeko joins the list of 40-year-olds. Croatia have named Luka Modric, also 40, and Portugal’s Ronaldo will set a record by playing in his sixth finals.
“Messi, Ronaldo and Neymar set for sixth World Cup as 48 squads confirmed; new VAR rules and red card offences announced.”
But the rule changes, confirmed less than a fortnight before kick-off, have dominated preparation. Video assistants will now be expected to check every decision that results in a corner – though it is optional and the Premier League is reportedly ready to reject it. VAR will also assess decisions leading to a second yellow card, not just straight reds. In an unexpected development, Ifab announced a “clarification” extending the window for reviewing goals, penalties or sendings-off that follow a set piece: referees will check for any offence before the set piece was taken, if it had a “direct impact” on the outcome. This is widely seen as a tool to tackle grappling in the box before corners and free-kicks, prompted by a missed foul in the buildup to England’s opener in a recent friendly against Uruguay.
Two incendiary incidents this year have directly created new red card offences. After Senegal’s coach, Pape Thiaw, and some players walked off during the Africa Cup of Nations final in protest at a penalty, any player or official who “leaves the field of play in protest” now faces a red card. The second new offence follows another unspecified incident.
With the tournament 50 days away, the BBC will broadcast Scotland’s first World Cup game since 1998. But the expanded VAR and new red card rules mean every corner, every protest, every grapple could decide a match. The question is whether the technology, as Ifab intended, will fix serious missed incidents – or create new controversies of its own.