Players who cover their mouths in a verbal confrontation should be sent off, says FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
Infantino wants football’s lawmakers to introduce a ‘presumption’ of guilt and take mouth-covering as sufficient evidence that something offensive is being said.
It follows the explosive racism row involving Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior and Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni.
Vinicius Jr accused his opponent of racially abusing him in the first leg of their Champions League play-off in March, but Prestianni’s exact words are still under investigation after he covered his mouth with his shirt during the flashpoint.
Infantino told Sky News: ‘If a player covers his mouth and says something, and this has a racist consequence, then he has to be sent off, obviously.
‘There must be a presumption that he has said something he shouldn’t have said, otherwise he wouldn’t have had to cover his mouth.
Gianni Infantino says footballers who cover their mouths during altercations should be sent off
‘There are situations which we did not foresee. 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.
‘I simply do not understand if you don’t have something to hide, you don´t hide your mouth when you say something. That’s it, as simple as that.
‘And these are actions that we can take and we have to take in order to be serious about our fight against racism.
‘We need to act and to be decisive and it has to have a deterrent effect. Maybe we should also think about not just punishing, but also somehow allowing, changing our culture, allowing players or whoever does something to apologise.
‘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 and maybe we should think about something like that as well.
‘We have to stop racism. We cannot just be satisfied by saying “well, it’s a problem in society, so we cannot do anything about it except what we are already doing.”‘
On Saturday, the sport’s lawmakers – the International Football Association Board (IFAB) – announced that they would hold consultation on measures against discrimination and players covering their mouths.
Any changes would be ratified ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
At the IFAB’s Annual General Meeting, they also approved a raft of rule changes including measures to clamp down on time-wasting and new VAR protocols.
Vinicius Jr, one of football’s most prominent black players, has suffered a series of high-profile racial abuse cases throughout his career.
It follows the row between Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior and Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni; the former accused the latter of a racist remark but he covered his mouth with his shirt
Last month, he accused Prestianni of making a racist remark. The Argentinian was then provisionally banned, ruling him out of the second leg of Madrid and Benfica’s tie, but he could get a longer-term sanction following an ongoing investigation by an ethics and disciplinary inspector.
Real Madrid midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni claimed that Prestianni had admitted to making a homophobic remark instead of a racist one.
In the aftermath, Benfica manager Jose Mourinho suggested that Vini Jr had incited anger with his celebration, but he has since moderated his comments after a strong backlash from the football community, including the likes of Thierry Henry and Rio Ferdinand.
Speaking on Sunday, Mourinho said: ‘If my player did not respect these principles, which are mine and Benfica’s as well, then that player’s career with a coach named Jose Mourinho and at a club named Benfica will come to an end.
‘I am not a scholar, but I am not ignorant either. The presumption of innocence is a human right, isn’t it?
‘I stand by my opinion. If the player is indeed guilty, I will never look at him the way I looked at him before, and with me, it’s over.
‘But I have to put many “ifs” in front of it.’
