“Does something always have to happen first?”
Ex-ref criticizes FIFA after horror foul
June 19, 2026 – 9:30 a.mReading time: 2 minutes
Canada’s men win a World Cup game for the first time, but their success is overshadowed by a serious injury. Manuel Gräfe is now demanding a reaction from FIFA.
Canada beat Qatar 6-0 on the night from Thursday to Friday. After the game, it was less about the historic success and more about Ismaël Koné’s serious injury. After a kick from Qatar’s Assim Madibo, the Canadian midfielder was initially diagnosed with a fracture of his left tibia and fibula.
“Everyone could hear the bone breaking,” Canada coach Jesse Marsch reported after the game. Madibo saw red for his harsh approach, but ex-referee Manuel Gräfe still took the situation as an opportunity to criticize FIFA. The previous line of the referees at the World Cup 2026 displeases him. “You don’t want to accuse the Qatari of anything, but here is Fifa and Pierluigi Collina demanded,” he said to the “Bild” in the direction of the head of the Fifa referee commission. Gräfe added critically: “You are too generous when it comes to foul play, you’ve already seen that two or three times in this tournament.”
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The foul by Lionel Messi against Algeria’s Aissa Mandi was “necessarily red”. Players also got away with yellow cards in other scenes. “Does something always have to happen first?” asked the ex-referee and answered this himself: “No, it doesn’t have to. You have to set limits for the players.”
In the video | Red and horror injury in Canada’s runaway victory
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It’s not always the intention of the professionals to injure their opponents, but “it’s usually negligence.” Fifa must therefore “act preventatively; Fifa and Collina were too careless here.” This could also be seen at the past World Championships. The referees only issued a total of six red cards in 2018 and 2022. “We have to react here.”
Gräfe himself was always a fan of a long leash, “but what has to be, has to be.” The 52-year-old concluded with a clear demand: “If you act in such a way that endangers your health, step on the calf from behind, in the Achilles tendon area, at knee height or even higher, with the studs – then there must be red cards to protect everyone.”