Players covering mouths during confrontations should be sent off – Infantino

Players who cover their mouths when speaking to opponents during confrontations should be sent off, says Gianni Infantino, the president of football’s world governing body.

Infantino told Sky News he thought referees should work from a presumption that players have said “something they shouldn’t have”.

He was speaking less than two weeks after Benfica winger Gianluca Prestianni raised his shirt over his mouth while speaking to Real Madrid’s Vinicius Jr during a Champions League game.

The Argentina international has been given a provisional one-match ban by Uefa for alleged use of racist language, which he denies.

The ban was imposed pending the result of a full investigation by an ethics and disciplinary inspector, and Prestianni could be punished further once the investigation is complete.

Infantino said individual cases should be dealt with by the relevant bodies, but football more broadly must “act and be decisive” to bring in something which has “a deterrent effect”.

The issue was discussed at the International Football Association Board (Ifab) annual general meeting in Wales this weekend.

It was agreed there would be consultation to develop measures to stop players hiding what they might be saying to an opponent.

Infantino said: “If a player covers his mouth and says something, and this has a racist consequence, then he has to be sent off, obviously.

“There must be a presumption that he has said something he shouldn’t have said, otherwise he wouldn’t have had to cover his mouth.

Ifab was unable to reach an agreement this weekend, but measures could be agreed at the Fifa Congress in Vancouver on 30 April.

That would allow the law to be changed in time for the World Cup this summer.

“We want to continue the discussion and potentially come up with measures before the World Cup,” Fifa secretary general Mattias Grafstrom said on Saturday.

“We will have the Fifa Congress, and that will be an opportunity to have a discussion.”

Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham said more discussion was needed to find the correct solution.

“We need to consult the game more broadly and work out where we would avoid any unforeseen circumstances,” said Bullingham, who is on the Ifab board.

“You can see when a player is talking to an opponent, there are very few circumstances where they should need to cover their mouth when they are confronting them.