FIFA is demanding answers from Australian video assistant referee Shaun Evans after a hand gesture he made before Germany's 7-1 victory over Curacao at the FIFA World Cup on Sunday raised immediate alarm on social media.

As part of its standard global broadcast coverage, FIFA has been briefly featuring match officials ahead of kickoff — showing the referee and their team walking to the touchline before cutting to the VAR hub in Dallas, where officials' names are displayed on screen.

When the camera turned to the VAR room on Sunday, Evans was seen forming the fingers of his right hand into an upside-down 'OK' sign — a gesture that carries two sharply different meanings.

A sign with two meanings

One interpretation is the harmless "circle game" — a playground prank popularised in the US sitcom Malcolm in the Middle and later spread as an internet meme. In that version, the sign is made below the waist, and if another person glances at it, they receive a punch on the shoulder.

The other meaning is far more serious. From 2017 onwards, the upside-down OK gesture was adopted by far-right groups as a symbol of white supremacy. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) added it to its list of hate symbols in 2019, describing it as a "popular trolling tactic" used by right-leaning individuals who post photos of themselves making the gesture on social media.

The anti-discrimination body Fare — which partners with both FIFA and UEFA to combat racism in football — issued a statement saying it was seeking clarification.

"Advice from our experts is that the gesture used clearly resembles an upside down 'OK' hand symbol used as a 'white power' symbol in global far-right circles,"

FIFA yet to respond officially

BBC Sport made multiple requests to FIFA for comment but received no official response. However, sources told the broadcaster that FIFA is seeking an explanation directly from Evans.

Evans, 38, has been on FIFA's list of referees since 2017 and was also appointed as a VAR official at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. In Australia, he has officiated in the A League since 2012 and took charge of the Grand Final in 2019.

Camera approach changed after the incident

A notable shift in FIFA's pre-match broadcast procedure followed the episode. In the three matches played after the Germany–Curacao game, VAR officials were shown already facing their monitors rather than posing for the camera — though their names continued to appear on screen. FIFA offered no explanation for the change in approach.