Gary Neville praises FIFA for 'unbelievable' World Cup rule change

The global tournament gets underway on Thursday evening as co-hosts Mexico face South Africa, with teams adapting to a revamped regulatory framework. FIFA has introduced revolutionary measures, including a strict 10-second substitution limit and a five-second countdown for throw-ins and goal-kicks. Failure to exit the pitch quickly forces a team to play down a man for a full minute, a penalty Iceland already suffered against Japan in a recent warm-up match.

The sweeping changes have received strong backing from high-profile pundits who are weary of negative tactics disrupting the flow of domestic football. Speaking on The Overlap, Neville said: “I think this is an unbelievable introduction – time-limited substitutions. I love that. It’s so annoying watching players walk off slowly. The players and teams are gaming the system. You can criticise FIFA for many things but I do think they get their referee stuff right. I think those are pretty good introductions and will make the game better for the fans.”

Neville added: “We’ve got some rule changes coming in for the World Cup. I’m massively up for the throw-in counter. The amount of time that is taken in the Premier League… I’ve lost count of how many times we mentioned that last season. So I like that one. What we’ve witnessed over the past 12 months is teams stopping the game for a minute to prepare for set-pieces. I’m talking about League Two games as well as the Premier League, the ball is out of play for so long. I think it’s a good introduction.”

The new laws also ban players from covering their mouths during confrontational altercations to ensure transparency, a rule introduced after a controversial Champions League incident involving Benfica’s Gianluca Prestianni and Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior. Supporting this transparency, Ian Wright said: “That’s a good rule. You can’t prove things if players are covering their mouths, I think that’s a good one. I quite like that, that’s good for me.”

However, Roy Keane raised logical concerns about player welfare in intense summer temperatures, countering: “Some of the rules are about the speed of play but it’s strange they’ve brought them in now when we’re talking about the conditions being so tough for the players. If ever players will want to slow the game down it will be now given the heat in some of these venues.”

Managers must quickly alter their tactical habits to navigate these strict rules alongside mandatory three-minute hydration breaks per half. Elite teams like England and reigning champions Argentina do not play until Wednesday, giving them extra time to observe how referees enforce the new countdowns during the opening fixtures. The true test will be whether squads can maintain high-intensity performances without falling foul of the automated one-minute player bans.