FIFA breaks silence on Croatia v Portugal VAR decision drama, explains why late equalizer was disallowed

Croatia’s Petar Sucic (17) and his teammates react to a loss during the World Cup Round of 32. (AP Photo/Mike Stewart) Croatia’s heartbreaking exit from the 2026 World Cup against Portugal became one of the tournament’s most dramatic VAR decisions, with FIFA later explaining that advanced ball technology played a key role in ruling out stoppage time.Croatia appeared to have leveled at 2-2 in the round of 16 match in Toronto in the 103rd minute when Josko Guardiol tapped home a cross from close range. The goal sparked wild celebrations before VAR intervened and disallowed it for offside. The dispute concerned whether Croatian forward Igor Matanovic touched the ball before it reached Mario Pasalic, who was in an offside position. Pasalic initially appeared to have received the ball after a rebound from Portugal defender Renato Veiga, which would have kept the goal alive. However, VAR found that Matanovic had touched shortly before.

How ball technology decided the fate of Croatia

According to the ruling, Pasalic was offside when Matanovic made contact with the ball, meaning his assist for Guardiola could not stand.FIFA later confirmed that the decisive touch was detected using the Connected Ball Technology installed inside the Adidas Trionda official match ball.“According to data provided by the Connected Ball Technology located in the @adidasfootball Trionda, the official match ball of the @FIFAWorldCup, contact with Croatia #20 Igor Matanović was shown to have been in the build-up to a goal against Portugal, allowing the referee to correctly determine offside and disallow the goal.”“The IMU sensors located in the Trionda ball are able to detect any slight contact, displayed to viewers on the air as a ‘heartbeat graphic’ and provide officials with an unprecedented amount of data to make quick and accurate decisions,” shared FIFA Media on X.Croatia took the lead through Ivan Perisic early in the second half before Cristiano Ronaldo equalized with his third goal of the tournament. Goncalo Ramos then scored the winner in stoppage time when he headed home Rafael Leao’s cross to send Portugal into the last 16.