Switzerland was awarded a penalty in the 14th minute against Qatar during their 2026 World Cup Group B match, which ended in a 1-1 draw. The penalty was converted by Breel Embolo following a foul on Remo Freuler, who was brought down by Qatar goalkeeper Mahmoud Abunada [1, 2].

FIFA's new semi-automated offside system was expected to provide detailed 3D offside graphics for key decisions but no such graphic was displayed during the match for this incident. FIFA attributed the absence of the usual lifelike animation to a brief "technical outage" occurring in the 14th minute of the game [1, 2].

Despite the outage, FIFA said the VAR workflow continued uninterrupted using simpler line drawings to confirm that both Freuler and Embolo were onside before the penalty was awarded [2]. However, the more comprehensive 3D semi-automated offside animation has not been publicly released by FIFA for this event [1, 2].

The lack of transparency drew sharp criticism from former England players Gary Neville and Ian Wright. Neville said, "We all think it sitting here, and everyone will at home, the goal is offside. FIFA are the host, they've got the evidence of the automated decision -- why are they not showing us? It's like a dictatorship in the idea that they hold this evidence and don't show it for fans. It's ridiculous. Prove to us it's offside. Where's the transparency?" [2]

He also added, "We all think it here [that it was offside]. Everybody at home thinks it. FIFA are the host broadcaster and they have the semi-automatic decision that they can show us. There is a massive question over that because it is offside in my eyes until they prove to me different." [1]

Wright echoed the frustration, saying, "They do what they want. We're seeing it now. It's scandalous." [2]

About four hours after the penalty award, FIFA issued a statement on social media explaining the technical outage and shared line-drawing evidence supporting their onside call [2].

The incident took place during the Switzerland vs Qatar Group B match on September 2, 2026, and the game concluded with a 1-1 scoreline [1, 2]. FIFA’s next opportunity to publicly use its semi-automated offside system graphics will be closely watched in upcoming World Cup matches.