Andy Robertson Finds 'Hack' to Beat FIFA's New Throw-In Rule

Rob is senior football editor at GiveMeSport, with over 15 years experience covering sport in various capacities since graduating from the University of Gloucestershire in 2008 with a degree in journalism.

A childhood obsession for all things football developed into a career writing about the beautiful game, initially producing content for clients including Luton Town Football Club and the PGMOL. His first big interviews were with Premier League referees Howard Webb and Michael Oliver in 2009.

He then spent four years producing written content for a betting website, mainly focusing on football, and was there to cover various games and tournaments including the 2010 World Cup and Euro 2012.

Rob joined GiveMeSport in 2013 (initially as a sub-editor before becoming a senior writer and then senior editor in 2020) and has covered countless football matches and other sporting events, interviewed various high-profile figures including Rio Ferdinand, Peter Crouch and Theo Walcott, and written well over 10,000 articles during that time.

Rob has played a key role in GiveMeSport's coverage of the World Cups in 2014, 2018 and 2022, plus Euro 2016, Euro 2020 and Euro 2024, along with many Champions League finals.

While football is Rob's area of expertise, he has also covered a wide range of other sports during his time at GiveMeSport including boxing, tennis and darts, as well as the 2016, 2020 and 2024 Olympic Games.

Scotland’s Andy Robertson has already found a ‘hack’ to beat FIFA’s brand new throw-in rule introduced for the 2026 World Cup finals.

Robertson played the full 90 minutes as Scotland began their World Cup campaign with a 1-0 win over Haiti.

With Morocco and Brazil still to play, victory over Haiti was vital for the Scots’ chances of progressing to the knockout stages. Aston Villa’s John McGinn scored the only goal of the game midway through the first half.

Robertson, who recently left Liverpool to sign for Tottenham, became the first captain to lead Scotland out at a World Cup match since Colin Hendry in 1998. He told BBC Scotland:

"What an amazing feeling. The lads achieved their dreams today."

The full-back added: "It was such a long day waiting, I can't imagine what the fans back home were like staying up so late.

"The fact we managed to walk out on to the pitch and sing the national anthem together, it was so special. To then go and follow it up with a win, it doesn't get much better than that.

"Three important points. People expected us to win, but we had to go out and do it. It was so important to win that game and I'm glad we did it.”

Arsenal and France legend Thierry Henry speaks out after offending nation competing at the 2026 World Cup

During the match, with Scotland protecting their one-goal lead, eagle-eyed fans spotted Robertson bending one of FIFA’s new rules to avoid punishment.

The new throw-in rule states that players will now receive a five-second countdown if they are deliberately delaying the restart of play.

Bosnia’s Sead Kolasinac became the first player at the World Cup to be penalised under the new rules after taking too long with a throw-in against hosts Canada on Friday.

The referee punished Kolasinac by blowing his whistle and awarding a throw-in to Canada instead.

But has Robertson already found a cheeky loophole?

The 32-year-old told his teammates where to be before eventually picking the ball up and throwing it moments later.

The sequence took longer than 10 seconds, but Robertson avoided punishment. Watch the clip below:

New rules have been approved and announced.

“Arteta taking notes,” one fan replied on X (Twitter), while another said:

​​​​​​​“Three days the time-wasting rule took… three days.”