Brief by Shorts91 Newsdesk / 06:43am on 14 Jun 2026,Sunday Sports
FIFA World Cup 2026 faced its first major VAR controversy during the Group B match between Switzerland and Qatar, which ended 1-1. Debate erupted after Switzerland received a penalty converted by Breel Embolo, with many pundits and fans arguing that Swiss midfielder Remo Freuler appeared offside before being fouled in the penalty area. Critics questioned why FIFA’s semi-automated offside technology did not intervene or publicly display an offside animation, unlike in another World Cup incident involving Canada and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Former England defender Gary Neville strongly criticized the lack of transparency. FIFA later clarified that a brief technical outage prevented the animation graphic, but VAR procedures remained unaffected.
