Neville calls FIFA's refusal to release review footage 'dictatorship'
![Switzerland's Remo Freuler collides with Qatar goalkeeper Ahmoud Abounada inside the penalty box during their Group B opener at the 2026 World Cup on Sunday. Despite an offside controversy, the referee's penalty decision stood after VAR review and led to Switzerland's opening goal. [Reuters]](https://wimg.heraldcorp.com/news/cms/2026/06/14/rcv.YNA.20260614.PRU20260614095001009_P1.jpg)
A penalty kick decision in Switzerland's 2026 World Cup match against Qatar has sparked a growing controversy, with FIFA declining to broadcast the video review footage that could have settled the dispute.
In the first half of Sunday's Group B opener at the Bay Area Stadium in San Francisco, Switzerland's Remo Freuler went down inside the penalty box after contact with Qatar goalkeeper Ahmoud Abounada. The referee immediately awarded a penalty, which Breel Embolo converted to give Switzerland the lead.
The problem was Freuler's position at the moment he entered the box. Broadcast replays appeared to show him in an offside position, yet the original call stood even after a video assistant referee review.
Suspicions deepened when the Semi-Automated Offside Technology graphics — which would have definitively shown whether Freuler was onside or offside — were never broadcast.
According to the BBC, ITV pundit Gary Neville compared FIFA to a "dictatorship" for refusing to release the footage supporting the decision.
"Everyone watching and all of us think it's offside, and FIFA, who are the host broadcaster, are not showing us the semi-automated offside technology to prove it," Neville said. "The idea that you keep the evidence internally and don't show it to the fans of the countries in the tournament is an absolute outrage."
Fellow commentator Ian Wright called it "an unbelievable scandal," while Lee Dixon said he believed it was offside and the goal should not have stood.
Other international outlets also criticized the lack of transparency. The Guardian said FIFA had compounded the controversy by upholding the decision without providing any visual evidence to support it.
Even Switzerland's own tabloid Blick conceded that the replay footage had not provided a clear answer on the offside question.
Switzerland ultimately paid for the disputed advantage, conceding an equalizing header to Boualem Khoukhi deep in stoppage time to draw 1-1.
yjc@heraldcorp.com
