The ‘Prestianni Rule’ was executed for the first time in Friday’s match between Paraguay and Turkiye.
Paraguay’s Miguel Almirón was given a straight red card in the first half for covering his mouth during a confrontation.
This is a new rule added by FIFA ahead of the World Cup to avoid any discriminatory statements being made by players.
It was created after Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni covered his face with his jersey to reportedly make a racist remark to Real Madrid’s Brazilian star Vinícius Júnior in a Champions League game in February.
“If you have nothing to hide, you don’t cover your mouth when you say something. It’s as simple as that,” FIFA president Gianni Infantino said of the new rule, per Yahoo! Sports. “If a player covers his mouth and says something that has a racist consequence, he obviously needs to be sent off. There must be a presumption that he said something he shouldn’t have.”