Gary Neville has accused FIFA of behaving like a “dictatorship” after a controversial penalty was awarded to Switzerland during their World Cup match against Qatar, with the governing body failing to publish footage to justify the decision despite boasting of advanced offside technology at the tournament.
Switzerland were awarded the spot-kick after Remo Freuler, running onto a header played into his path by Breel Embolo, was brought down by Qatar goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada at San Francisco Bay Area Stadium. Footage of the incident appeared to show Freuler in an offside position before the goalkeeper made contact, but VAR reviewed the incident and allowed the penalty to stand, which Embolo converted to put Switzerland ahead.
FIFA has promoted the use of advanced semi-automated offside technology at this World Cup, including cameras tracking player movement at 50 frames per second and AI-generated player avatars designed to support more accurate decision-making. However, no images supporting the decision to award the penalty were published, and no alternative camera angles of the incident were shown during the broadcast.
Speaking on ITV, Neville said: “We all think it here and everybody will think it at home. FIFA are the host broadcaster. They’ve got the evidence of the automatic decision which they can show us. Why are they not showing us? They did this in the last tournament. Fans are already distrusting of FIFA and technology to start with. There is a massive question mark over that because that is offside in my eyes until they prove differently. Why aren’t FIFA showing us when there’s already such distrust for them? It’s a dictatorship this: the idea that they hold this data internally and not show fans, it’s absolutely ridiculous.”
Neville’s fellow ITV studio analysts Ian Wright and Duncan Ferguson agreed that Freuler had appeared offside to the naked eye. On commentary for the match, former Arsenal and England defender Lee Dixon was similarly unconvinced by the decision, saying: “There’s no doubt about the penalty but he’s offside. This won’t count.”
