Wait, what just happened? Why did he get a yellow card? Why is he kicking from there? What’s the deal with these water breaks?
These are a handful of questions that fans during the 2026 FIFA World Cup may be asking, and we’re here to deliver clear explanations.
With the help of FOX Sports’ World Cup rules experts — Dr. Joe Machnik and Mark Clattenburg, both of whom are former referees — we’re breaking down major, simple and new rules to help guide you through the 48-team tournament. From new additions to tiebreaker rules to more VAR and so much more, we’ve got you covered.
“The World Cup is the world’s biggest soccer event, and therefore, what you have is different continents, different federations — they all have their different interpretations when it comes to the laws of the game,” Clattenburg said.
“We have six federations, and they all have to come together under the same rules,” Clattenburg added. “And what they have to understand is that FIFA [has] different interpretations.”
Here’s our ultimate rules guide for the 2026 World Cup.
JUMP TO:
Tiebreaker Rules | Big Changes | VAR | Cooling-Off Breaks | Extra Time | Yellow/Red Cards | Penalties | Kicks | Handballs | Offside | Referees
The 2026 FIFA World Cup will feature 48 teams, broken into 12 groups of four. It’s a 16-team expansion from the 2022 World Cup, which featured 32 teams. The knockout stages will also include 16 more teams than in 2022, as 32 of the 48 teams will move onto play in the win-or-go-home elimination matches.
There are three host countries: USA, Canada and Mexico, with 16 different cities hosting matches.
When two teams are tied on points, there are seven different factors that ultimately determine their order.
These tiebreakers separate group winners from runner-ups, which is important as group winners receive favorable knockout round opponents. These tiebreakers separate second-place from third-place finishers, which is notable as second-place finishers of each group automatically advance. Furthermore, these tiebreakers separate the eight out of 12 third-place teams that advance to the knockout stage.
Here are the tiebreakers in order of importance:
2026 FIFA World Cup: Group Stage Tiebreakers And How Third-Place Teams Advance
The 2026 World Cup features new innovations to enhance the product on and off the pitch. The speed and flow of the match will never be smoother than at the 2026 World Cup, where officials will have the liberty to institute timers that speed up dead-ball restarts and substitutions.
More so, players who wish to return after sustaining an injury will need to leave the pitch, which could deter embellishing.
“We see players going down to stop the game — whether they’re injured or not,” Machnik said. “But if the referee has to stop the game to deal with a player, that player will have to leave the field of play and will not be permitted to come back into the game for at least a minute.”
(Photo By Seb Daly/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
Additional rule changes include expanding the opportunities to use Video Assistant Review (VAR). VAR can now be used to determine corner kicks from goal kicks and challenge second yellow cards.
There will also be cooling-off periods and water breaks that occur around the 22-minute mark of each half.
“The game is going to look a lot different from the last World Cup, or from even international games that we’ve been watching throughout the soccer season,” Machnik said. “It’s going to be actually played in quarters. There’s a mandatory three-minute cooling break in each half.”
Ahead of the World Cup, enhanced measures have been taken to improve the flow of matches.
Referees will have the authority to institute a five-second timer if they feel players are taking too long over throw-ins and dead-ball goal kicks. They can institute a 10-second timer for substitutions if players are wasting time entering and leaving the pitch. If players take too long to sub, the player subbing in will have to wait one minute, Clattenburg explained.
“The substitutions, I think, is a very good rule,” Clattenburg said.
“This is a big change in football because, many times, the substitution player takes his time leaving the field of play and nothing happens. We add the time on. Do we really get the added on time? I’m not sure. So this is a good message that if you take more than 10 seconds, the substitution player is not allowed on the field for one minute. A lot can change in one minute — you can have a goal.”
Additionally, any player whose injury stops the run of play must remain off the pitch for a minute if they’re healthy enough to return. This is meant to deter players from flopping as a way to waste time.
“That’s going to also enhance game flow and eliminate, hopefully, some of those opportunities where players fake injuries to stop game flow or whatever,” Machnik added.
(Photo by Liang Sen/Xinhua via Getty Images)
VAR can also be used to determine a foul or penalty. In this case, the referee will watch back the action, oftentimes gaining advice from another group of officials, to determine if a foul occurred, should be held up or overturned. The same thing goes for a handball call. But even with VAR, infringements like these are ruled on at the ref’s discretion.
“We are talking about the best VARs in the world, and they have the best judgment when to interfere and not,” Clattenburg said. “And I believe that we have the best referees in the world operating in this tournament, so you will see better decision-making.”
For the World Cup this summer, VAR’s duties will be expanded. VAR will now help determine who was the last to touch a ball before it went out of bounds, resulting in a goal kick or corner kick. It can also be used if a player is awarded a second yellow card, meaning they’d be sent off.
“I’m skeptical. I’m very nervous about this,” Clattenburg said about a second yellow card scenario. “If they get it right, I think it could be a good moment. But if they don’t get it right, I think football fans will be more frustrated.”
The cooling-off (or water) breaks are a new addition at the 2026 World Cup. Regardless of weather or other circumstances, there will be one each half of each game at the 22-minute and 67-minute mark. Each break lasts three minutes, and are instituted when a natural stoppage of play occurs around those minute marks.
“This will not be exact because it depends on the motion of the match, and how the match is being played, and how natural it can be,” Clattenburg said.
“For example, if there was an injury, they will do the cooling break then. And they will do it in the second half at the same but not the exact moment — 25 minutes, 22 minutes. It will be judged on [a natural] break.”
(Photo by Matthias Hangst/Getty Images)
Red cards can be given upon first offense if a player commits an extremely harmful tackle or does something egregious to directly prevent a goal, like a purposeful handball or tackle inside the box. Red cards are also dealt when a player gets their second yellow in the same match.
When you get a red card, you’re ejected from the rest of that game — plus, your team must play the remainder of the match down a player.
Players will be suspended for one game if they are shown a yellow card in two group-stage games. Any yellow cards accumulated in the group stage, though, do not carry over to the knockout rounds. Players’ card tallies are wiped clean twice during the tournament: after the group stage and after the quarterfinal.
World Cup Rules: What Else To Know about Yellow And Red Cards
The most pressure-packed scoring opportunity in soccer might be the one where no one is defending: the penalty kick. A “PK” is a one-on-one duel between a field player and a goalkeeper in which the field player tries to score a direct kick from the penalty spot.
A penalty kick is awarded when a player commits a foul — tripping, pushing or a handball — inside the penalty area, which is a large 18-yard box that extends from the goal line into the field of play. The total width of the box is 44 yards.
World Cup Rules: How Are Penalties Awarded And What Are The Rules?
First, they only happen in the knockout rounds and not during the group stage.
But during the knockout rounds, if the score of a game is still tied after extra time, the winner is determined with a penalty shootout. So how does it work?
Each team picks five players, each player will take a penalty kick and whichever team finishes with the most goals wins. However, if they’re still tied after each team takes five penalty kicks, then they continue alternating shots until someone comes out on top.
A penalty kick is taken from the spot 12 yards away from the goal. It’s instituted when the official stops play for an infringement that occurred inside the box. Defenders must wait outside the box, and can’t move until the penalty kick taker starts their motion. The goalkeeper has freedom of movement as they’re the only opponent in between the penalty taker and the goal.
(Photo by Ahmad Mora – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
Offside is an infringement a referee calls when an attacking player is behind the last defender when their teammate passes the ball or puts in a cross. If the ball ricochets off a defender to an attacking player in an offsides position, the official will whistle the play dead. But if a player with clear possession passes the ball to their teammate or the goalkeeper and an opponent in an offside position intercepts it, the official will not whistle the play dead.
Offside rulings result in a free kick for the defending team from the spot of the infringement.
In all, there are 52 referees with a whistle and 20 VARS, Machnik said, noting that’s more than 20 additional officials compared with Qatar in 2022.
There are three officials on the pitch, each with different responsibilities. The center referee operates in the field-of-play, always hovering in the proximity of play to manage the action. The center referee calls fouls and penalties, and issues yellow and red cards. They signal the start of the match with their whistle, and the end of each half.
(Photo By Ben McShane/Sportsfile via Getty Images)
