Man Utd legend Gary Neville praises 'unbelievable' World Cup rule change

Former Man Utd and England defender Gary Neville (Picture: YouTube)

Gary Neville has praised FIFA over a number of rule changes for the World Cup and says the ‘pretty good introductions’ will benefit fans.

The 2026 World Cup kicks off on Thursday evening with co-hosts Mexico taking on South Africa.

The main hosts, USA, play their World Cup opener in the early hours of Saturday morning, while reigning champions Argentina begin their defence on Wednesday .

Like Argentina, England have also been tipped to go deep ahead of their opening game against Croatia on Wednesday night .

FIFA have brought in several new rules ahead of the World Cup which teams, players and managers will need to adhere to.

Manchester United legend and ex-England defender Neville is supportive of several of the new introductions and described the ’10-second substitution’ rule as ‘unbelievable’.

FIFA announced prior to the tournament that subbed players ‘must leave the pitch at the nearest point of exit, and within 10 seconds’.

The 2026 World Cup starts on Thursday (Picture: Getty)

Failing to comply with that time limit will mean the player coming on will have to wait a full minute before they can then enter the field of play.

Japan benefitted from the new ruling in a World Cup warm-up match on Sunday, scoring a second-half winner when Iceland were down to ten men as a substitute was forced to wait to come on.

‘I think this is an unbelievable introduction – time-limited substitutions,’ Neville said on The Overlap . ‘I love that.

VAR will work a little differently at the World Cup (Picture: Getty)

‘It’s so annoying watching players walk off slowly. The players and teams are gaming the system.

‘You can criticise FIFA for many things but I do think they get their referee stuff right. I think those are pretty good introductions and will make the game better for the fans.’

Neville also backed the introduction of the ‘five-second restart’ which says possession will be reversed if a player is deemed to be time-wasting from a goal-kick or throw-in.

‘We’ve got some rule changes coming in for the World Cup,’ Neville added. ‘I’m massively up for the throw-in counter.

‘The amount of time that is taken in the Premier League … I’ve lost count of how many times we mentioned that last season. So I like that one.

‘What we’ve witnessed over the past 12 months is teams stopping the game for a minute to prepare for set-pieces.

England are aiming to win their second World Cup (Picture: Getty)

‘I’m talking about League Two games as well as the Premier League, the ball is out of play for so long. I think it’s a good introduction.’

Neville also outlined new rules preventing players from covering their mouths during ‘confrontational situations’ with opponents or officials.

Benfica ’s Gianluca Prestianni covered his mouth during an altercation with Real Madrid ’s Vinicius Junior during a Champions League game earlier in the season.

Brazil forward Vinicius accused Prestianni or racially abusing him but the Argentina winger denied the claims.

‘That’s a good rule,’ ex-Arsenal and England striker Ian Wright said. ‘You can’t prove things if players are covering their mouths, I think that’s a good one. I quite like that, that’s good for me.’

While the panel were largely supporting of FIFA’s new World Cup rules, Roy Keane questioned how they would play out during a tournament in which the heat is expected to be an issue for players.

‘Some of the rules are about the speed of play but it’s strange they’ve brought them in now when we’re talking about the conditions being so tough for the players,’ Keane said.

‘If ever players will want to slow the game down it will be now given the heat in some of these venues.’