Croatia offside call, explained: How controversial ruling vs. Portugal was affected by chip-in-ball technology

As one of the European powers at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, Portugal barely survived a thrilling battle with 2018 finalists Croatia, winning 2-1 on a late Goncalo Ramos winner.

However, the result was very nearly in question as Josko Gvardiol appeared to score a dramatic equalizer for Croatia with essentially the last kick of the game.

Yet the referee went to the monitor and ruled the goal out, leaving Portugal to win the game by a 2-1 score.

Why was Croatia stoppage-time goal ruled out vs. Portugal?

In the 12th minute of stoppage time, Josko Gvardiol appeared to score a dramatic equalizing goal for Croatia as they fought to level the score against Portugal.

However, the referee went to the monitor to review the chance, and ruled that the chance was offside.

The officials judged, using advanced technology, that Igor Matanovic had indeed barely touched the ball with his head, thus leaving Gvardiol in an offside position.

Had Matanovic not touched the ball, the goal would have stood, because Gvardiol was onside on the initial delivery from deep down the left.

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After VAR review, Croatia is ruled offside and the goal is disallowed pic.twitter.com/QOhSueZzrL

MORE: How Portugal held on to squeak by Croatia into World Cup Round of 16

How Connected Ball technology assisted replay review on offside call

At the 2026 FIFA World Cup, the Adidas Trionda ball is equipped with special technology that came into significant play in ruling out Josko Gvardiol's goal.

At first glance, and even on replay, it appeared that the ball never touched Igor Matanovic's head, meaning Gvardiol was onside for the goal.

However, the VAR had additional technology at his disposal to discover the truth. The chip in the ball, dubbed Connected Ball by FIFA, can detect every touch on the ball.

Normally, this aids the semi-automated offside technology, which uses the exact touch point to determine when to identify the moment offside must be determined. However, here it was used slightly differently.

The VAR review displayed a graphic on screen which showed each and every touch in the appearance of an audio wavelength. This, when synced up with the video, could determine whether Matanovic did indeed touch the ball, as a distortion on the wavelength appeared as the ball passed the Croatian substitute's head.

Thus, the pass point was rearranged, and at that moment, Gvardiol was indeed offside, so the goal was ruled out.

This is a wild new feature- the chip in the ball graph that shows when it gets touched. the NBA is gona have this asap pic.twitter.com/3fSixXuhob