Offside or Not? Technology Fault Leaves Questions Over Switzerland Penalty
A fault in FIFA’s enhanced semi-automated offside system left questions over Switzerland’s penalty against Qatar, with the governing body releasing images only four and a half hours later and pundits unconvinced.
A technology fault has left lingering questions over the penalty Switzerland won against Qatar, the BBC reports. The spot-kick, converted by Breel Embolo in Saturday’s 1-1 Group B draw in Santa Clara, came after Remo Freuler was brought down, but doubts remain over whether he was offside in the build-up.
The avatar system failed
FIFA had heavily promoted an enhanced semi-automated offside system for the tournament, scanning every player to create lifelike avatars for the clearest offside graphics yet. But it did not work for this incident; FIFA said "a brief technical outage prevented the onside animation graphic from being generated" and the VAR reverted to drawing lines. The governing body said the lines showed no offside in either of two situations, for Embolo earlier in the move and for Freuler before the foul, and released two images, but not the usual avatar graphics, about four and a half hours after the incident.
Pundits unconvinced
The delay drew criticism. "We all think it was offside. It is offside in my eyes until they prove to me different," Gary Neville said on ITV, calling FIFA’s handling of the evidence "ridiculous" and urging transparency. By contrast, FIFA’s avatar animations worked smoothly elsewhere, including for Morocco’s Ismael Saibari against Brazil and for a Canada offside against Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Quick, except when it counted
FIFA has generally been fast with offside calls at this World Cup, aided by an audio alert when a player is more than 10cm offside. This call, though, was tight, inside that 10cm margin, and the technology meant to settle it instead added to the doubt.
Reporting: based on BBC Sport, by Dale Johnson, June 13, 2026.