The New Rules That Could Change the Game at the 2026 World Cup

The 2026 World Cup will be unprecedented not only in scale, with 104 matches across three countries, but also because of new in-game rules that are set to change the character of football. FIFA has decided on regular three-minute drink and refreshment breaks in the middle of each half, regardless of the weather. That will turn the match from two halves into something like four quarters. Sharon Davidovich described it this way: "In the end, in the most commercial place in the world, the most capitalist, the one that invented advertising breaks and timeouts, certainly from the NBA and certainly from other popular sports, it only makes sense that football would also fit into that space. We are, de facto, turning football into basketball. We are going to see in this World Cup, in effect, a game of four quarters."

In many places this makes a lot of sense. There will be matches played early in the day, there will be matches with very high temperatures and very high humidity. On the other hand, there will be places where it does not make sense, for example in Houston and Dallas, where even early matches are played in enclosed, air-conditioned stadiums. There will also be reforms to familiar rules, mainly on time wasting. A player who is substituted will be required to leave the pitch within just 10 seconds. If he delays, his replacement will have to wait a full minute before entering the field, and his team will be left at a numerical disadvantage.

Abraham Klein, the former Israeli international referee who officiated at World Cups, said, "It is hard for me to tell you today whether it will work or not, because they are constantly trying to change things according to the times. It is not the same time in which I managed games in 1982 or before that. Today everything is faster, everything is documented, they want the crowd to understand the referees' decisions, so there are certain explanations."

Klein said, "As early as 1977, when I refereed in the United States in the North American Soccer League, which was a professional league then, they approached me already then and asked if, while blowing the whistle for a foul or something similar, I could give an explanation over a microphone connected to me. That means that the Americans, even more than 50 years ago, were already thinking about the fact that the crowd wants to know the referees' decisions exactly, and that the game should flow faster. I hope it works."

Throw-ins and goal kicks will also be limited to five seconds בלבד. Anyone who exceeds that limit will hand possession to the opposing team. In Klein's view, this is a wise decision: "Today we see, for example, matches all over the world in which throw-ins delay the game sometimes, and even in England, I count to 30 before someone even takes the ball in hand, especially when the team is leading and they want to waste time. So there is no doubt this is a wonderful thing."

To prevent feigning injury and wasting time, a player who receives treatment on the pitch will have to leave and wait one minute before being allowed back into the match, unless the injury was caused by a foul that earned the referee a yellow or red card. "As for injuries too, we see players pretending and lying on the ground for a long time when the team is leading, and these are wonderful things," Klein added.

The powers of VAR, the video assistant referee, have also been expanded. The screen team will now be able, in cases of a second yellow card leading to a dismissal and also in cases of incorrect decisions regarding corner kicks, to change the decision immediately.

Sharon Davidovich explained, "As long as the VAR matters are done quickly and do not disrupt the flow of the game, I am for it. The question is how it will function. The goal, after all, is to reduce as much friction as possible. One of the famous phrases in football is 'a cheap corner costs dearly.' That means if you were given a corner you did not deserve and then conceded a goal, you would be very, very frustrated because you would say, 'Wait, there is something unfair here.'"

And of course, as with every tournament, there is also one more change, a new ball. This time it is Adidas's "Trionda." Yim Ulysker, a technology expert, explained: "Adidas created a ball with only four large panels. The new structure creates a more uniform surface that allows air to flow over it smoothly and continuously, making it much more aerodynamic and much faster. But what makes this ball the most advanced one ever made is what is hidden inside it."

"If at the 2022 World Cup there was one sensor inside the ball in the center, whose main job was to identify the moment of the kick and its general direction on the field, in the 'Trionda' there is an advanced IMU sensor installed on one side of one of the panels that measures everything with millisecond precision. The other panels balance its weight, and in fact all the data the ball collects, in addition to the other systems on the field, are sent to the VAR room and analyzed by an AI system. This makes it possible to understand what happened on the field at any given moment with a level of precision that did not exist until now."

The 2026 World Cup will undoubtedly look different. How much will this affect the game? We will find out very soon.

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