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FIFA president Gianni Infantino has called for players who cover their mouths during on-pitch confrontations to be sent off, particularly in cases involving alleged racist remarks.
Infantino’s comments follow allegations by Vinícius Júnior that he was racially abused by Gianluca Prestianni during the first leg of their UEFA Champions League playoff clash between Real Madrid and Benfica. Prestianni was seen covering his mouth during the alleged incident.
UEFA has since opened an investigation into the accusation. Prestianni has been suspended for the second leg and could face up to a 10-match ban if found guilty by European football’s governing body.
“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; he wouldn’t have had to cover his mouth.
“There are situations which we did not foresee [the 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.”
FIFA has also announced plans to introduce measures ahead of the 2026 World Cup to prevent players from covering their mouths during confrontations. The issue was discussed at Saturday’s meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB).
“You can see when a player is talking to an opponent, there are very few circumstances where they should need to cover their mouth during a confrontation,” said Mark Bullingham, chief executive of the English FA and an IFAB member.
The proposed measures could be agreed and implemented in time for use at this summer’s World Cup, with next month’s FIFA Congress in Vancouver serving as the next key milestone.
Infantino also suggested encouraging players found guilty of misconduct to take public responsibility.
“Maybe we should also think about not just punishing, but also somehow 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. Maybe we should think about something like that as well.
“These are actions that we can take, and we have to take them in order to be serious about our fight against racism.”
