Collina’s wider point was equally sharp. “When it is confrontational, it is a completely different story,” he said, drawing a distinction between harmless chat and heated exchanges.
That matters because football has long struggled with what happens in those moments officials cannot clearly hear. Under Law 12, abusive or insulting language is already a red-card offence. What this change seems to do is give referees a clearer framework when body language itself raises suspicion.
The report links the change to recent cases involving Gianluca Prestianni, Vinicius Junior and Ondrej Kudela. In each case, mouth-covering was part of the controversy, and that visual has become loaded in a sport already wrestling with racism and homophobia.
For Vinicius Junior in particular, the subject is bigger than one incident. He has repeatedly become a central figure in football’s fight against discriminatory abuse, and his experiences have kept pressure on authorities to be seen acting, not merely condemning.
Collina also said: “This is something you do on purpose. It is not something that a player can do instinctively.” That is the key message. appears to be telling players that concealment itself may carry consequences.
The next point to watch is implementation. If this is enforced firmly at events, the 2026 World Cup could become the clearest test yet of whether football is finally ready to punish not just abusive words, but the obvious attempts to hide them.