The red card that knocked Switzerland out of the World Cup quarterfinal shouldn't have happened. That's not an opinion — that's now official, according to football's top rulemaking body.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) has confirmed, via a new circular reported by The Athletic, that Breel Embolo's second yellow card in the 72nd minute against Argentina was issued in breach of the applicable rules. Switzerland were level at 1-1 at the time. They lost 3-1 in extra time and never reached a World Cup semifinal in their history.
The rule that was misused
Here's what actually happened on the pitch: the referee initially called a foul on Embolo and booked Argentina's Leandro Paredes. VAR intervened. Paredes' yellow was rescinded, the decision was flipped from foul to dive, and Embolo walked with a second yellow for simulation.
IFAB says that application was wrong. The "mistaken identity" rule — the mechanism used here — exists specifically to correct situations where the wrong player was carded. It cannot be used to retroactively reclassify the nature of an incident, turning a foul call into a dive call after the fact. Those are two entirely different things, and conflating them isn't a technicality. It's a fundamental misuse of the protocol.
The kicker: IFAB acknowledges this interpretation gained some traction during the tournament. It may not be applied again until the VAR protocol is formally reviewed. That's cold comfort for Switzerland.
Too late to matter
UEFA and the Swiss Football League had already aligned themselves with the correct IFAB interpretation before this clarification was published — meaning the error wasn't just visible in hindsight. The framework to prevent it existed. It just wasn't applied on the day.
Switzerland were ten minutes from a historic semifinal berth when Embolo was sent off. Whether they would have held on or gone through is unknowable. What is known is that the decision that changed the match was, by the sport's own rulebook, illegitimate.
No appeal. No replay. Just a clarification memo and a quarterfinal exit that should never have ended that way.
