World Cup red card for Swiss player confirmed as wrong

Breel Embolo pleads with the referee after being sent off for diving. Keystone / Peter Klaunzer

The Zurich-based International Football Association Board (IFAB) has clarified the scope of VAR’s intervention. For the time being, VAR (video assistant referee) will no longer be able to intervene regarding the nature of the offence in the event of a mistaken yellow card, as was the case with the sending-off of Swiss striker Breel Embolo against Argentina in the quarterfinals of the 2026 World Cup.

The grounds of “mistaken identity” may only be used to identify the player who committed the offence, and not to correct the offence itself, the IFAB said in a statement on Monday and obtained by The Athletic. This decision by IFAB follows Embolo’s controversial sending-off on July 12 in Kansas City, which should not have taken place.

Argentine player Leandro Paredes had initially been booked for a foul on Embolo in the 72nd minute. Noting the lack of contact and the obvious simulation, VAR intervened on the basis of the “mistaken identity” clause, resulting in Paredes’s yellow card being reissued to Embolo, who had already been booked. Reduced to ten men, Switzerland held out until extra time, before losing 3–1.

European football’s governing body UEFA and the Swiss Football League (SFL) had previously announced that they would apply the rule in line with IFAB guidelines. The published clarification now confirms this interpretation.

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Translated from French, reviewed by an English Department journalist.