FIFA blames "technical outage" for controversial penalty against Qatar

• Switzerland was awarded a first-half penalty against Qatar after a VAR check cleared
• The match ended 1-1, with Qatar equalising in the 94th minute

During the Group B match between Switzerland and Qatar, Switzerland was awarded a penalty after Qatar goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada brought down Remo Freuler inside the penalty area. Replays during the match suggested that Freuler was offside prior to the foul, but VAR graphics were not shown to confirm it. 

Four hours after the game, FIFA confirmed that a “technical outage” occurred, preventing them from using VAR. 

FIFA’s response 

FIFA stated, "During the Qatar vs Switzerland match in the San Francisco Bay Area, a brief technical outage prevented the onside animation graphic from being generated ahead of the penalty awarded to Switzerland in the 14th minute. The issue was quickly resolved.”

FIFA did not immediately release its standard semi-automated offside animation, instead only releasing two still images four hours after the match, causing massive backlash. Gary Neville, a former Manchester United Player and two-time Champions League winner, called FIFA a “dictatorship,” stating that not showing viewers why a decision was made creates mistrust. 

Insists decision was correct 

FIFA stated that lines were used to confirm that there was no offside leading up to the penalty, highlighting that the referee's decision was correct. FIFA insisted that the only problem was that they did not show a visual display for the audience. 

The lack of a real-time response caused frustration among the fans, many of whom had expected a higher level of quality during the biggest tournament of the sport. FIFA is already facing pressure on whether their technology is reliable when it is needed the most