Domestic leagues have just rejected the idea. However, FIFA is moving forward anyway, and this could change football forever. Here's why this gamble might fail spectacularly.
The 2026 World Cup is set to be football's most controversial experiment. FIFA plans to review every single corner kick with VAR technology, even though leagues around the world have rejected the proposal as impractical, time-consuming, and potentially damaging to the game’s flow.
With an average of 10 corners per match in top-level football, FIFA officials will pause play to check video replays up to 10 times every 90 minutes. If you find current VAR delays frustrating, just wait.
This decision sets the stage for a dramatic clash between FIFA and the rest of the football world, as the 2026 tournament in the United States, Mexico, and Canada becomes a testing ground for technology that leagues from England to Spain have already said is unworkable.
The Rejection That FIFA Ignored
At an October meeting of the International Football Association Board (Ifab)—the group that determines football's rules—FIFA’s proposal to use VAR for corner kick decisions was flatly rejected. Domestic leagues were clear: reviewing corners would cause unacceptable delays and demand resources they simply don’t possess.
But FIFA isn't accepting no for an answer.
Instead, the governing body plans to essentially create its own trial at next summer's World Cup, using the tournament to showcase an expanded VAR protocol. This move highlights FIFA's power and its willingness to use major competitions to test controversial innovations, regardless of what the broader football community thinks.
The measures will be discussed at the next Ifab meeting in January, but FIFA has a history of moving forward with trials at its events. Semi-automated offside technology and referees announcing VAR decisions to crowds were both FIFA experiments that eventually gained wider acceptance.
The question is whether corner reviews will follow that trend or become a warning about technology going too far.
Why FIFA Wants This
Pierluigi Collina, FIFA's head of referees and a highly respected figure in football officiating, has been the leading advocate for the proposal. The legendary former referee believes any mistake that VAR can quickly identify should be corrected.
Collina recalls a specific incident that troubles officials: the Euro 2016 final, when Portugal was wrongly awarded a free-kick for handball just outside the area during extra time. This error nearly led to a goal in one of football's most significant matches. With VAR checking corners, similar high-stakes errors could be avoided.
It’s not just about fairness alone. Earlier this season, Nottingham Forest manager Sean Dyche watched as his team conceded two goals from corners that were awarded incorrectly. Such incidents are frequent—wrong corner and goal-kick decisions occur in nearly every match and can directly affect outcomes.
Collina is open to taking it a step further, believing that VAR's scope should increase to catch more mistakes, not fewer. For FIFA, the World Cup is the perfect chance to show that technology can eliminate these errors without ruining the game's rhythm.
But domestic leagues aren’t convinced.
Why Everyone Else Says It Won't Work
Mark Bullingham, chief executive of the Football Association and an Ifab board member, has previously stated his opposition to the corner review proposal. He’s not alone. Leagues across Europe and beyond share this skepticism, with concerns that are both practical and philosophical.
The Delay Problem
All leagues face immense pressure to limit VAR delays, which have become one of football's most contentious issues. Fans dislike waiting. Players lose their momentum. The flow of matches suffers. Reviewing every corner—remember, that averages to 10 per match—would significantly worsen the problem.
Unlike the relatively rare second yellow cards (which Ifab is likely to approve for VAR review since they happen so infrequently), corners occur constantly. Every single one would need to be checked before play can continue, leading to a stop-and-start experience that could change how football feels to watch.
The Resource Problem
Here's the inconvenient truth: FIFA can afford technologies that domestic leagues cannot.
During the 2022 World Cup, group-stage matches had five people in the VAR room—a VAR, assistant VAR, offside VAR, support VAR, and support assistant VAR. In contrast, domestic leagues usually have just two officials overseeing replays.
FIFA can also use as many cameras as necessary, positioning them to make immediate decisions. Domestic leagues struggle with camera coverage. Recall Newcastle's controversial goal against Arsenal two years ago when the VAR could not confirm whether the ball went out because there wasn’t a camera capturing that area of the goalline.
Furthermore, FIFA has access to connected ball technology from Adidas that instantly identifies who last touched the ball in tight situations. Domestic leagues lack this technology, meaning they would be making corner decisions with less effective tools while being held to the same standards.
The Cascading Effect
If Ifab eventually approves corner reviews for FIFA competitions, the rules would apply to every league using VAR—not just the Premier League, but also the Scottish Premiership, Dutch Eredivisie, and down to second divisions in Germany, France, Italy, and Spain. Smaller leagues would have to make impossible choices: invest heavily in technology they may not afford or abandon VAR. The gap in refereeing quality among competitions would only widen.
The Technical Challenge: Why Every Corner Must Be Checked
Here's where FIFA's plan gets complicated. According to football's Laws of the Game, a referee cannot change a restart decision once play resumes. So, once a corner is taken and the ball is in play, the game continues—even if everyone realizes the decision was incorrect.
This creates a challenging situation: FIFA must review every single corner before it is taken, not just those leading to goals. Why? Imagine if VAR only checked corners that resulted in goals. Attacking teams could take a quick corner, create an opening through several passes, and score—knowing VAR wouldn’t intervene because the goal didn't come directly from the corner kick.
To prevent such exploitation, every corner must be cleared by VAR before play can resume. Ten corners. Ten required reviews. Every match.
FIFA believes it has the necessary resources—the VARs, cameras, ball technology—to make these decisions quickly enough that fans won’t notice significant delays. That's a bold claim that will be tested under intense scrutiny at a World Cup.
A Departure From VAR Philosophy
Since its introduction, VAR protocol has focused on four specific areas: goals, penalties, red cards, and mistaken identity. These are moments that most directly impact match results and that referees are most likely to miss in real time.
Expanding to corners marks a fundamental shift in VAR philosophy. It's not just about correcting clear and obvious mistakes in match-defining moments. It's now about micro-managing every restart decision, inserting technology into the game at a much more detailed level.
Critics are concerned this leads down a slippery slope. If corners are reviewed, why not throw-ins? Why not free-kicks? Where do we draw the line between fixing important mistakes and allowing human judgment to continue being part of football's character?
What Happens Next
FIFA seems ready to conduct its own trial regardless of any opposition. The January Ifab meeting will provide another chance for discussion, but FIFA's history of pushing through tournament trials suggests that the corner review experiment is already set for 2026.
If the technology operates smoothly and fans hardly notice any delays, FIFA will have proof to promote broader use. Collina and his team will argue that accuracy matters more than tradition, and that football benefits from removing avoidable errors.
If the experiment leads to chaos—long delays, frustrated fans, technical failures—domestic leagues will have strong reasons to permanently reject the proposal. The 2026 World Cup could serve as a cautionary tale about the limits of technology in sport.
The Bigger Question
Beneath the technical arguments is a deeper philosophical question: How much technology is too much?
Football's appeal has always included a degree of human imperfection. Referees miss calls. Players can bend the rules. Controversial decisions lead to debates lasting decades. These flaws are frustrating, yet they also make football compelling—unpredictable, emotional, and excitingly chaotic.
VAR was intended to eliminate only the most blatant mistakes. But with each expansion—from goals to penalties to offsides and now to corners—the game edges closer to a sterile, technically perfect version that nobody asked for.
FIFA's gamble in 2026 isn't just about corner kicks. It's about defining what football should look like in this technological era. Should every decision be flawless, even at the cost of constantly stopping play? Or should football accept some degree of human error to maintain the flow and spontaneity that make it the world's most beloved sport?
Next summer in the United States, Mexico, and Canada, that question will unfold in real time, corner by corner, delay by delay, with billions of fans observing whether FIFA's boldest experiment enhances the beautiful game or disrupts it fundamentally.
Follow ZOSIO for updates on FIFA's VAR expansion and reactions from the 2026 World Cup.
