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The Embolo incident was the second of its kind at the World Cup
The International Football Federation (FIFA) has defended the decision to send off Switzerland’s Brielle Embolo during the 2026 World Cup quarter-final against Argentina, stressing that the intervention of the video assistant referee (VAR) technology in the incident met the “mistaken identity” clause, despite the approved interpretation of the “contrary to international identity” clause. Football Association Board (IFAB) on it.
The official page of FIFA on the “X” website quoted the words of the representative of the International Federation. “FIFA’s mistaken identity interpretation has been applied consistently throughout the World Cup. There were two instances where a player was wrongly booked for a foul and the video referee advised the referee to correct the opponent’s factual error.”
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The FIFA spokesperson added. “The performance itself cannot be called into question and should not lead to disciplinary action against the competitor, which could lead to additional consequences, such as a dismissal for a second yellow card or a disqualification for accumulating cards.”
He continued. “We do not believe it was a mistake by the referee or video assistant referee and the decision was a fair correction.”
“We are aware of Evap’s comments in his circular and we have been in contact with them throughout and they have confirmed that this comment is correct, that it has been well received and will be part of the discussions to review the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) protocol as discussed at the last AGM.”
What happened to Embolo?
In the second half of the Argentina-Switzerland quarterfinal match, Switzerland’s Embolo fell without contact with Leandro Paredes, so the Portuguese referee Joao Pineiro called a foul on the Argentine and gave him a yellow card.
But the referee intervened and after reviewing the incident he deemed that Embolo had committed a foul, so Paredes’ caution was overturned and the Swiss was booked, his second of the match, so he was sent off in the 72nd minute.
The score was then tied at 1-1 before Argentina took advantage of Switzerland’s numerical disadvantage and scored twice in extra time to win 3-1 and book a place in the semi-finals.
It is noteworthy that a similar incident took place during the group stage match between Paraguay and America, and at the end, the Paraguayan player Miguel Almiron was also warned for trying to deceive the referee.
