FIFA stated there is "no evidence" the ball struck an overhead wire before England's equalizing goal against Norway in the Three Lions' 2-1 World Cup quarterfinals victory.
A goal kick appeared to clip a wire over the field late in the first half of the match in the World Cup quarterfinals Saturday, shortly before England's Jude Bellingham scored the tying goal.
By rule, if the ball had been noticed hitting the wire, play would have stopped and a drop ball would have been utilized to determine possession.
"Before England's goal in minute 45+2 against Norway, 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," a FIFA statement said.
In this case, play was not interrupted, and it was not known if the video assistant referee, Jerome Brisard, reviewed the play. Brisard was also in the VAR role for the Argentina-Egypt match in the quarterfinals, when Argentina rallied to win 3-2 and Egypt complained that the officiating was unfair.
Norway goalkeeper Ørjan Nyland took the kick to start Saturday's play in question, which was controlled by England seconds after the trajectory of the ball changed, suggesting it brushed one of the cables used to suspend a robotically controlled camera. The ball was eventually played to Bellingham, who beat Nyland with a low shot to the far post.
Before England's goal in minute 45+2 against Norway, 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. pic.twitter.com/gYf9ukfveT
— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) July 11, 2026
Nyland slapped the turf in frustration and he, Norway star striker Erling Haaland and coach Ståle Solbakken had words for referee Clement Turpin of France after the play and going into halftime.
"He says that he didn't see it himself and that he didn't get any message that it actually happened," Solbakken said after the match. "FIFA says there was no touch and that there was no signal in the chip in the ball, so he can't do anything about it. But the ball fell straight down.
"It did touch it."
Solbakken also insisted that's not why Norway lost.
"Let's not make this the story of the match," he said.
Earlier in the tournament, a sensor in the ball was used to rule out a potential equalizing goal for Croatia in their loss to Portugal after the sensor detected the ball had touched a Croatia player and rendered the goal offside.
The Argentina-Egypt game saw an Egypt goal taken off the scoreboard in the 58th minute after a VAR review determined that Marwan Attia had fouled Argentina defender Lisandro Martínez.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.