The 2026 FIFA World Cup wraps up the quarterfinals Saturday night in Kansas City with Argentina playing Switzerland at 8 p.m. CST. Refereeing is back in the spotlight after FIFA announced João Pinheiro would be the head referee for the match. Pinheiro refereed the Bayern Munich vs. Paris Sai nt-Germain Champions League semifinal. A free kick that should have led to a second yellow card for handball by PSG defender Nuno Mendes was overturned after just 29 minutes when Bayern badly needed a way back into the game. “That would have been a decisive moment if PSG had lost a player so early,” said Bayern’s Konrad Laimer, who instead was eventually judged — on the fourth official’s advice — to have handled the ball seconds earlier. An added frustration is the passage of play around the Nuno Mendes handball could not be reviewed by the VAR system — though a similar incident could be next season when the rules are updated. Mendes, whose outstretched right arm made his body bigger and blocked the ball, was already booked for tripping Michael Olise; another seemed inevitable. Pinheiro signaled for a free kick to Bayern, but a Bayern player was judged to have handled the ball several yards further back when he first controlled the bouncing ball. Television replays were inconclusive. “You don’t feel it during the game itself. I thought I had played the ball with my stomach, and then Mendes with his hand,” Bayern’s Konrad Laimer said. “The referee whistled for handball against me five seconds later. That’s really strange.” The VAR protocol allowed video review of “clear and obvious errors” in four game-changing situations: A goal, a penalty, direct red cards, and mistaken identity when the wrong player is shown a red or yellow card. Starting with the 2026 World Cup, VAR can intervene to overturn a red card if a second yellow was shown in error. Nuno Mendes was never shown a second yellow. However, a similar situation next season will let the referee follow their first instinct and review the whole passage of play at a pitch-side monitor. “I thought he was giving it,” Bayern coach Vincent Kompany said of Pinheiro moving toward a second yellow for Nuno Mendes. “I felt he pulled out because he realized he had already given him a yellow and he didn’t want to send him off for that, and he’s turned it around to the other side. “I’ve seen it from a few angles. I don’t see Konrad Laimer touch the ball with his hand.” Instead of playing one hour against PSG down one man, Bayern faced a full-strength opponent and did not score until Harry Kane’s goal at the very end of a 1-1 game that cut the overall score to 6-5. Minutes after the Laimer decision, Bayern was correctly denied a penalty for handball by PSG’s João Neves because the ball was played to his arm by a teammate. That nuance is not specified in The Laws of the Game, but it is in a supplementary document called Football Rules. There have been multiple officiating controversies to come out of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. FIFA’s refereeing chief rejected claims of bias in Argentina’s win after Egypt’s coach Hossam Hassan alleged after the match that there may have been pressure on the referee to keep Argentina in the tournament. European soccer leaders criticized FIFA’s decision to let USMNT striker Falorin Balogun play after a questionable red card in the second half of their win over Bosnia. Two players have also been sent off with red cards for covering their mouths while confronting an opponent. FIFA established the new rule to prevent players from hiding abusive, discriminatory, or offensive language while on the field. There were also allegations of a video review official using a white supremacist gesture; the official said it was caused by a twitch, and FIFA announced no rules were breached. This story uses functionality that may not work in our app. Click here to open the story in your web browser. ...read more read less