Football is once again preparing an important rule change. It’s actually more like hockey.

Football is once again preparing an important rule change. It’s actually more like hockey.

Dmitry Zimin November 29, 2023, 14:15 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.

Orange cards, 10-minute elimination and much more.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) presented several ideas to improve the rules of the game at its ordinary meeting. The organization has been regulating them since 1886, constantly offering some innovations. They are often completely invisible to the mass public, but this time the proposals are truly large-scale. How much does it cost to send off a soccer player for 10 minutes plus orange cards? But that is not all.

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This time the IFAB representatives focused on two problems that, according to them, have manifested themselves a lot in recent times: the behavior of the participants in the matches and the need to increase respect for the referees.

Therefore, the first point proposed, which they have wanted to formalize for a long time, is that only the team captain can communicate with the judges. This practice is already used in England’s youth leagues. In addition to being expelled from the field for 10 minutes for arguing with the referee. The IFAB is concerned about the increase in aggression by footballers towards referees. Under current rules, the referee can show a card if two or more players surround him with complaints. Now referees may be under more serious protection.

IFAB refers to statistics: last season, 88 players received yellow cards for arguing with referees. And this is only in the Premier League. And the Sin Bin project (translated as “basket of sins”, where a footballer is sent for 10 minutes), at least at the amateur level, helped reduce the number of cases of disagreement with the referee and subsequent disputes by 38%.

“Players are not worried about receiving a yellow card for speaking inappropriately towards referees. But it could make a big difference if after these words they spend part of the game off the field. Several stakeholders are also very interested in the idea that only the captain can address the referee. Players approaching referees aggressively simply cannot be tolerated anymore.

There is a big problem in retaining referees or motivating people to become referees. They see what is happening. They feel violence directed towards them and fear attacks. There are testimonies from referees, even in youth football, about how they suffer from anxiety before matches, unable to sleep because they are afraid of being abused, both verbally and physically,” Lucas Brud, executive director of IFAB, told The Times.

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However, expulsions can occur not only for aggression towards referees. The Telegraph claims that the IFAB has agreed in principle to try temporary suspensions (also 10 minutes) from the field of play of players for flagrant tactical fouls that do not justify a red card, but are too serious for a yellow card. An example is the case of Giorgio Chiellini’s foul on Bukayo Saka in the Euro 2020 final. Then the Italian did not allow the Englishman to escape from his flank, cynically clutching his shirt. It is understood that such fouls may be sanctioned with orange cards. And the rule could appear in the Premier League next season.

Chiellini’s foul on Saka in the Euro 2020 final

Photo: PA Images via Getty Images

Some more minor but important ideas:

IFAB proposes to take more seriously the moments when the goalkeeper violates the “six seconds” rule, but the referees ignore these episodes and recommends fixing the presence of the ball during the penalty kick in the rules. Now the ball must be exactly in the center of the “point”, it is planned to prohibit even its slightest movement to the side or forward, and the IFAB also wants to fix in the rules the moments when the ball hits the hand. It is proposed to send off players only if the player’s handball deprived the team of a clear scoring opportunity. But if the ball was not intentionally hit in the hand, there should be no eliminations, according to experts. And the correct decision is a yellow card and a penalty. Continuation of testing of the semi-automatic offside detection system. He will work in the Club World Cup. Referees will receive information almost instantly if a player is offside by more than 50cm.

In any case, for now they are just ideas. And they can only be approved at the IFAB annual meeting on March 2, 2024.