New World Cup Qatar Rules: Everything you Need to Know

In the course to the World Cup there have been some minor, yet important amendments in order to create a more enjoyable experience and a more entertaining tournament. Now there are new World Cup Qatar rules that could have a decisive effect in who gets to take home the trophy.

How many players on a World Cup team?

One change for the new world cup is that squad sizes have changed from a 23-man squad up to a 26-man squad. This comes as a result for a further new change that concerns the number of subs and the rules around when subs can be made and what they can be made for.

In a similar fashion to what was seen in the Euro 2020 competition where the changes were made as a result of Covid-19 precautions. This will be the first time this has been seen at the World Cup however it should still be noted that 23 players can appear in the matchday squads meaning that three players still miss out on the day of the match.

The reasoning behind the change given by FIFA is that “Given the need to retain additional flexibility due to the unique timing of the FIFA World Cup 2022 in the global calendar, as well

as the broader context of the disruptive effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on squads before and during tournaments, the Bureau has decided the following…

“The maximum number of players on the release list has been increased from 35 to 55.”

“The number of players to be included on the final list has been increased to at least 23 and a maximum of 26.”

“The final matchday at club level for the 23 to 26 players nominated on the final list will be 13 November 2022”

“No more than 26 people (up to 15 substitutes and 11 team officials – one of which must be the team doctor) will be allowed to be allowed to sit on the team bench”

How many substitutes in World Cup Qatar? 

In addition to having a bigger squad size, international managers can also make up to five substitutes during matches. This gives a greater flexibility to try to make tactical decisions to get the advantage.

Although managers can bring five players on from off the bench, there are only three windows which the managers can make those changes in.

In the knockout rounds, an additional rule comes into place which means that an extra substitute can be used as well as an extra substitute opportunity window.

Semi-Automated Offside Technology

The use of semi-automated offsides offer a support tool for the VAR officials and on-field officials to make decisions for offsides more quickly and accurately across the whole tournament.

Following the success of the VAR technology used at the 2018 World Cup in Russia, FIFA declared that they would work towards using technology to its full potential in football and enhance the use of VAR, ensuring that FIFA stays at the top of the game when it comes to creating the best football tournaments.

By working with Adidas and other various partners, FIFA have spent the previous few years developing semi-automated offside technology. The technology uses 12 dedicated tracking cameras mounted underneath the roof of the stadium and up to 29 data points on each player individually, up to 50 times a second which allows a calculation that lets officials know when someone is offside or not.

The Al Rihla, Adidas’ official match ball for the world cup further improves this. This is by the use of an inertial measurement unit also known as the IMU sensor. This is placed in the center of the ball and calculates the location up to 500 times per second, giving the most accurate detection of the kick as possible.

By combining limb and ball tracking technology and applying AI, the new technology provides an automated offside alert to match officials whenever it is reviewed. The on-field referee is then informed before video match officials validate the decision by manually checking the automatically chosen kick point and offside line. This process takes a matter of seconds and rapidly speeds up the process of the decision.

After the decision is confirmed by the video match officials and referee, the data points used are then generated into a 3D animation which gives an indication as to why an offside is given to spectators.

The use of semi-automated offside technology has been trialed in previous FIFA tournaments including the FIFA Arab Cup 2021 and the FIFA Club World Cup 2021 where they worked successfully to reduce offside decisions and improved accuracy as well.

World Cup Qatar Tiebraker Rules

There are eight stages to working out which team will progress, and which teams will be eliminated in the group stage. The first two are the most common to occur and then each level becomes increasingly more intricate into how a team performs compared to another team.

1. Points obtained in the group matches, obviously, the two teams with the most points go through.
2. Goal difference in the group matches. This means that the teams who finish on the same number of points after the games have been played are ordered based on the difference between the goals they score and the goals that are scored against them.
3. Goals scored in group matches. If the goal difference is the same, the next deciding factor is the number of goals scored. The team who scored the larger number of goals place higher.
4. Points obtained in matches between the level teams. In what is basically a head-to-head, the team that has won that game goes through, if they have drawn it goes to the next stage.
5. For when three teams are level it then goes to goal difference between those teams.
6. Again, when three teams are level, it goes to goals scored to determine who goes through.
7. Fair play points would now be used. Although highly improbable, a system based on the cards a team gets could determine whether they get out of the group or not. The system is as follows:
   • Yellow card = -1 point
   • Indirect red card (two yellow cards) = – 3 points
   • Straight red = -4 points
   • Yellow card followed by a straight red card = -5 points

8. Drawing of lots. Basically, flipping a coin and whoever goes through is based on pure luck.

Poland go Through on Goal Difference over Mexico.

Examples of Calls Using the New Rules:

Using the in-ball sensor in the Al Rihla matchball, officials were able to decide that Ronaldo did not touch the ball for the goal and instead the goal was awarded to Bruno Fernandes after the match.

Controversial offside call in first game of the World Cup between Ecuador and Qatar where Valencia supposedly interfered with play whilst in offside position.

There have also been many cases of the VAR being determined by the referee’s views, especially when deciding offsides and whether players interfere with play whilst offside which the VAR is unable to come to a decision about as it is something that is subjective to the on-pitch referee.