It was described by some media outlets as "bad" and dumb" but in the coming weeks, the somewhat controversial 'fair play tiebreaker' will once again feature at a World Cup tournament.
For those unfamiliar with the rule, the fair play tiebreaker was introduced by FIFA at the 2018 World Cup in Russia – and it meant Senegal were knocked out as a result. But more on that later.
Basically, the rule comes into play if teams are tied on points, differential, and goals scored, during the group stage.
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It's a rule decided on 'fair play conduct points' – a system that rewards teams who don’t collect yellow and red cards during the group stages.
Each club starts on zero points and a yellow card takes one point off your total. An indirect red [the result of being shown a second yellow card] is three points off and a straight red is four points.
If you get a yellow and a direct red it’ll be five points off your total.
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As mentioned earlier, Senegal became the first team to be eliminated from the fair play tiebreaker rule when it came into play in 2018.
Both Senegal and Japan lost their final match of group play, and the two were tied on points, goal differential, and goals scored. They also tied 2-2 when they played each other in the tournament, but because Senegal had two more yellow cards than Japan, Aliou Cisse's side were eliminated and Japan advanced to the knockout round thanks to points obtained in the fair-play conduct.
“It’s the rules of the game,” Senegal coach Aliou Cisse said afterwards. “They’ve been established by FIFA and we have to respect it, even though we would have liked to have been eliminated another way.”
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Thoughts on the rule? Let us know in the comments.
Jack Kenmare