The FIFA U-20 World Cup kicks off in Chile on Saturday (September 27) with 24 nations competing. This edition will see the debut of FIFA’s new technological innovation the Green Card.
Unlike traditional referee cards, the Green Card is designed for coaches. It allows them to challenge refereeing decisions, similar to the NFL’s challenge system.
Green Card
Each team will have a limited number of the Card challenges, which can be used in situations such as:
- Penalty decisions (awarded or not)
- Red card incidents
- Goal-line disputes (whether a goal was scored)
- Cases where the referee books the wrong player
These challenges will be reviewed under FIFA’s Video Review System (FVS), previously tested at the 2024 Blue Star Youth Championship in Switzerland and the U-20 Women’s World Cup in Colombia.
FIFA says the initiative aims to ensure fairer decisions and improve the quality of the game, with experts predicting it will enhance the spectator experience as well.
