The International Football Association Board (IFAB), the organization that is in charge of changing the laws of football, has confirmed that players who commit fouls to deny a goalscoring opportunity will no longer receive a straight red card and automatic one-game suspension. The change came as a result of an 18-month review with a former Premier League referee also involved in the decision-making process.
The previous law saw players get red carded and handed a triple punishment where they conceded a penalty, were sent off and suspended for the next game. That will no longer be the case.
Such fouls will now see just a caution from the referee or a yellow card depending on the severity of the offence.
However, any foul that is deemed dangerous or deliberate, such as violence on the pitch or deliberately handling the ball to deny a goal, will still see players sent off with a straight red card.
Other football laws that were changed
Apart from the punishment for denying goalscoring opportunities, there were some other laws that were amended as well.
One of those was to do with kickoff. Earlier, the team kicking off had to first kick the ball forward into the opponent’s half before moving the ball to any part of the pitch. Now they will be allowed to kickoff in any direction.
There were also changes to the laws with respect to treating players who were injured on the pitch. The previous law stated that the player had to leave the pitch for treatment before he was waved on by the referee – a move that saw the injured player’s team at a numerical disadvantage.
The new law will allow players injured by a challenge that incurred a yellow or red card get treatment on the pitch itself.
Video replays to be trialled in Italy
In what is a first for football, IFAB also approved the use of video technology in certain cases – to check if a goal was scored or not, whether it was a penalty or not, red cards and in case a wrong player was cautioned or booked.
The Italian Football Federation (FIGC) announced that they would be testing video technology in trials to see if they could be a feasible option by the 2017/18 season.
“We were among the first supporters of using technology on the pitch,” said FIGC president Carlo Tavecchio.
“And we believe we have everything required to offer our contribution to this important experiment.”
