2026 World Cup: FIFA acknowledges technical issue after Switzerland-Qatar offside controversy

Switzerland and Qatar drew 1-1 on Saturday in Santa Clara, but it was a refereeing decision that dominated the debate after the final whistle. The penalty converted by Breel Embolo, who had opened the scoring, came into question: Remo Freuler, who delivered the cross that led to the Qatari goalkeeper’s foul, appeared to be in an offside position from the camera angle broadcast live.

What particularly irritated observers was the absence of VAR footage usually shown to the public — with lines drawn on the pitch — to validate or refute Freuler’s position. Gary Neville, consultant for ITV, did not mince his words. “Why aren’t they showing us the images? They did it at the last World Cup. Supporters already distrust FIFA and technology. It’s highly questionable, because for me there’s offside until proven otherwise,” he said.

The former Manchester United defender went further, accusing the governing body of concealing a refereeing error. “It’s like a dictatorship. The idea that they keep this evidence in-house and don’t show it to supporters is simply ridiculous. Prove to us there’s no offside. Show it right now. Why this lack of transparency?”

Hours after the match, FIFA issued an official response. The body acknowledged that a technical problem had prevented the live broadcast of validation footage, but stated that referees had full access to this data during the match and that VAR protocol was followed correctly.

On the merits, FIFA also provided the elements justifying the decision: Embolo was not in an offside position at the moment of the cross, and Freuler was covered by a Qatari defender at the moment of contact. The margin remains extremely tight, however, on the order of a few millimetres, which is unlikely to fully settle the controversy.