📡 YahooJul 13, 2026👁 2 views

FIFA again dismisses spidercam cable speculation at England game

FIFA again dismisses spidercam cable speculation at England game

FILE PHOTO - Volunteers carry the FIFA logo onto the field prior to the start of the 2026 FIFA World Cup group E soccer match between Ecuador and Germanyat the New York-New Jersey Stadium. Tom Weller/dpa
DPAMon, Jul 13, 2026·1 min read

FIFA has reiterated that England's equalizer in the World Cup quarter-final against Norway was fair as it insisted the ball had not touched a spidercam cable in the build-up.

Football's ruling body told sportschau.de that spidercam footage "clearly shows that the camera is neither shaking nor moving."

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FIFA also dismissed suggestions that the chip in the ball may have lost its signal when it was in the air, saying it had transmitted all the time.

Norway and their coach Ståle Solbakken had suggested that the ball hit a cable of the camera construction above the pitch because of its flight pattern following a goal kick by goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland. The ball came to England's Anthony Gordon and Jude Bellingham scored en route to England's 2-1 comeback win on Saturday in Miami.

Had the ball touched the cable the goal wouldn't have counted.

"The ball fell straight down from the sky, so it changed its direction," Solbakken said.

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FIFA said in a first post-match statement: "The sensor in the Connected Ball showed no peak in the 'heartbeat of the ball' when in the air, and therefore no evidence that the ball touched the overhead wire and changed the movement of the ball."