The FIFA World Cup 2026 met its first big controversy on Saturday in the Group B match between Switzerland and Qatar. The match ended 1-1, thanks to goals from Breel Embolo and Miro Muheim ; however, the penalty strike from the Switzerland striker triggered a debate, with many suggesting that he was offside before the foul in the 18-yard box, which led to the penalty decision, was committed.
Before the World Cup began, FIFA claimed to have put a more robust system in place by launching the semi-automated offside mechanism. Yet, no VAR intervention took place when Switzerland’s Remo Freuler was brought down.
The discussion among pundits and fans alike is that Freuler was offside before being brought down in the penalty box. Hence, by law, no penalty decision should have been awarded to Switzerland.
“We all think it here (that it was offside),” Gary Neville said on ITV. “Everybody at home thinks it. FIFA are the host broadcaster and they have the semi-automatic decision that they can show us. There is a massive question over that because it is offside in my eyes until they prove to me otherwise.”
In the Canada vs Bosnia and Herzegovina clash, striker Tani Oluwaseyi was flagged offside before clashing with goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj. FIFA released a semi-automated animation, even though the VAR did not get involved in the process. However, no such steps were taken over the Freuler incident on Saturday.
“It’s like a dictatorship, this,” added Neville. “The idea that they hold this evidence internally and don’t show fans of countries who are playing in tournaments is absolutely ridiculous.
“To not show the evidence of an offside – prove to us that it’s offside! Show it straight away. Why not have transparency?”
FIFA’s Clarification
FIFA was reached out to for clarification on the topic, and they blamed technical ‘outage’ for the decision.
“During the Qatar vs. Switzerland match in the San Francisco Bay Area, a brief technical outage prevented the onside animation graphic from being generated ahead of the penalty awarded to Switzerland in the 14th minute. The issue was quickly resolved,” FIFA stated.
“The workflow of the VAR was not affected by this issue and followed the normal procedure in checking the on-field decision. The lines used by the VAR to check the position of the relevant players did not show the attacking player to be in an offside position in either of the two situations immediately before the penalty decision,” the body added.