FIFA rule change used immediately after Norway goal disallowed vs England

New FIFA World Cup rules have been deployed in the Norway vs England fixture that left Harry Kane and the Three Lions players baffled.

The 2026 World Cup introduced a range of new rules for this tournament, many of which have been deployed to perfection, while others have been controversial to say the least.

On the one hand, little tweaks to negate time-wasting and bad sportsmanship have been fantastic additions that have seen the game sped up (only to be halted by hydration breaks).

But new features like red cards for covering players' mouths have been criticised, as UEFA has opted not to adopt the law in the upcoming season amid two send-offs this tournament.

And then there's the jiggery-pokery to the rule book done by Donald Trump and the US lawyers to suspend Folarin Balogun's red card.

But the England versus Norway game saw the first time that one rule was used, and even captain Harry Kane was caught off-guard.

England players confused as referee awards corner following disallowed goal

A second-half goal from Norway seemed to put the Scandinavian country 2-1 up, as Lysaker Heggem tapped it in to an open goal after a scramble from a corner.

But intervention from VAR found that Erling Braut-Haaland has fouled Elliot Anderson in a goalmouth scramble, and England was let off the hook.

However, the game wasn't restarted with an England free-kick, despite the foul, with Norway being allowed to retake their corner.

Harry Kane visibly quizzed the referee about the restart and was left confused as his complaints were waved away.

The new FIFA World Cup rule means that if a foul is committed before the corner is taken, there will be no punishment and the kick will be retaken.

The rule intends to stop the grappling and unnecessary holding in the penalty area, as we've seen in the Premier League this season.

VAR checks on this law are also supposed to continue to be used in 'clear and obvious error' situations, such as the Norway goal.

The use of the new rules has been divisive, with FIFA even calling for changes to their own legislation mid-way through the tournament, which could impact England.

According to reports, FIFA considered making a significant tweak to its penalty shootout systems, including how the coin-toss is determined, which would avoid teams getting a double-whammy of good (or bad) luck to strike first and face their own fans.

With England going deep into the knockouts, the rules will continue to test their concentration, especially being on either side of crucial VAR interventions in matches against Mexico and Norway.