FIFA face 'big question marks' over 'unacceptable' Qatar vs Switzerland moment

The delay surrounding FIFA's release of the still images surrounding Switzerland's controversial penalty in their 1-1 draw with Qatar was "unacceptable."

That is according to former Everton and Aston Villa chief executive Keith Wyness, speaking exclusively to Football Insider, who believes that the World Cup governing body must release the full "data trail" for the incident.

Replays appeared to show Switzerland midfielder Remo Freuler in an offside position before he was felled inside the box, but a failure in FIFA's semi-automated offside technology prompted confusion.

The penalty was upheld and then converted by Breel Embolo, before FIFA eventually released still images showing the VAR lines drawn on over four hours after the final whistle.

Wyness believes that the incident has raised "big question marks" about the introduction of the semi-automated technology, which will be used throughout the tournament.

He questioned whether the system had been tested properly after it failed in one of the opening games of the tournament, and is now suspicious of its involvement moving forward.

Keith Wyness: FIFA need to 'put people's minds at rest'

Everton’s former chief Wyness – who served as CEO at Goodison Park between 2004 and 2009 and now runs a football consultancy advising elite clubs – believes that FIFA need to "put people's minds at rest" regarding their new technology.

He made it clear that the Switzerland penalty incident has raised "conspiracy theories" regarding the decision-making at the World Cup, which does not bode well going forward.

Speaking on the latest edition of Football Insider's Inside Track podcast, Wyness emphasised that errors with refereeing technology simply shouldn't be happening at a World Cup.

"This sort of stuff should have been tested and be foolproof, I'm afraid there is a big question mark about that," he said.

"I believe it took nearly four and a half hours for them to get the still photographs back out. That's unacceptable, and it just leads people to fill in the void with speculation and conspiracy theories. 

"VAR has got to have the truth and transparency. And so they really should release the whole data trail, if they can, about what happened there to try and put people's minds at rest. 

"I think if they did it now, even after this period of time, it would help give some faith back into the whole system. But yes, I'm afraid in World Cup finals like this, you can't have mistakes going on with the VAR."

Ex-FIFA referee reacts to Switzerland penalty incident

Former FIFA referee Keith Hackett exclusively told Football Insider that Qatar's players had every right to feel aggrieved that the penalty decision was upheld.

He made it clear that FIFA had "promised" transparency with their new technology, and was left frustrated when what appeared to be an error occurred.

Hackett was in no doubt that Freuler was in an offside position when the challenge was made, and labelled it as a "huge error" at the time.

There is no doubt that the incident has now increased scrutiny on the technology for the rest of the tournament.