Eight new rules for football
Eight new rules intend to make football faster, more spectacular and transparent when it comes to the decisions from the referees.
In an effort to make the sport faster, more spectacular and transparent when it comes to officiating, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) has announced the implementation of eight new rules to be effective as of July 01 2025. If those succeed then it would be good news for every person linked to the chain of the world. From the fans, to the punters, to the top Asian and European bookmakers, it will be something close to a dream come true.
Some are quite innovative but some are quite perplexing
The first two of the new rules were tested in a few matches in the Premier League. One comes directly from the NFL and the microphones that the referees will wear. Whenever a competition allows this, they will be announcing the final decision after the intervention of VAR. The other comes from basketball and says that the referees will raise their hands and count visibly when they suspect a delay of play. There is a special mention on this for the goalkeepers.
Until now goalies had the right to keep the ball in their hands for 6 seconds. However, the rule was very rarely put to effect. Now, it will be 8 seconds but the referees will enforce it mandatorily. If there is a delay of game and it is called, then the other side will be awarded a corner kick instead of an indirect one.
Special attention to penalties
First of all, the assistant referee will no longer stand at the goal line. They will stand at the 18-yard line to better monitor the case of players entering the area earlier than when they are supposed to. However, the most important change here is the «double touch» penalty like the one that Alvarez took during the game of Atletico with Real Madrid for the Champions League.
If there is such a case again then if a goal is scored, the penalty will be repeated. If not, then there will be an indirect kick called in favor of the defending team. These arrangements will be valid for call made during regulation or overtime. If it occurs at the shootout procedure, then the execution will be deemed as failed.
Clearer «dropped-ball» rules and leniency to outsiders
If there is a pause in play for reasons that are not connected to an infringement, then there will no longer be a dropped-ball. If the referee is not certain about which side had the possession when the interruption occurred then the ball goes to the team that had the last contact. Otherwise, the team that had or could obviously have the possession, will get the ball.
Up to know, if a player, manager or any other person certified to sit on a team’s bench, touched the ball after it had gone out of play, there would be a yellow card shown to the perpetrator. Now, this rule changes and there is a differentiation about whether the touch was intentional or accidental. If the case is the second, then there will not be a card but the other team will get an indirect kick.
Major change on the offside rule
And the new setting will add more work to the VAR operators. Up to now the judgement of whether someone is offside or not was based on the position of the player that made the pass or the cross before the touch of the player that is considered to be in the wrong place. Now, this changes and takes into account any accidental touches as well. So, from now on, it will be the last touch before the final action that sent the ball at the back of the neck. We will need to see how it is enforced in real time conditions as the description is kind of confusing.
When the announcement of the referee for a VAR intervention was first tested in the match of Newcastle vs Arsenal last season, the reactions came both in favor and against. As it happens in such cases, only the actual implementation in real live conditions will say if the new rules can achieve the goals or not. For most of the commoners involved, it’s not so much about the pace of the match or the spectacle, as it is about fairness in the decisions of the referees. Every fan inside a stadium, or watching a match on TV, or opening an account via agent to place bets, needs to know that there are no manipulations of the results.
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