Goalkeepers will admit a corner if they hold the ball for more than eight seconds of next season in an important change in the laws of football.
Positive results in tests this season led the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to change the law before the beginning of the 2025-26 season, to replace the current law in which keepers are supposed to admit an indirect free kick if they hold on for more than six seconds.
There has been a recognition that referees almost never force the rule of six seconds, partly because an indirect free kick seemed too hard, a sanction, as well as the difficulties and the time needed to set an indirect free kick.
The rule of eight seconds this season was tested in Premier League 2, plus matches in Malta and Italy.
The IFAB said there had only been four cases in which goalkeepers were punished in hundreds of test competitions, even with the rule that is strictly applied on all occasion, which suggests that keepers see the threat of allowing a corner as a considerable deterrent.
Keepers will also have no excuse for not being aware of the time limit, with referees instructed to count down on a raised hand for the last five seconds.
FIFA-Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom said his organization was planning to use the new law for its inaugural 32-team Club World Cup in the United States this summer.
'Significant impact on the behavior of goalkeeper'
“You can see that it has a significant impact on goalkeeper's behavior,” said Patrick Nelson, the Chief Executive of the Irish Football Association and an IFAB director, during a press conference in Belfast.
He said that the rule of six seconds and the failure to maintain it, “had been a curse of the lives of many people for some time”.
“Some action has been taken on that. The results of (the tests) have been whole, very positive, so we will continue to put that in the laws of the game as quickly as possible.”
It is also clear that in the future the IFAB is considering to allocate corners where keepers take too long about dead call targets.
IFAB agrees to expand tests of 'daylight rule' for the outside
The IFAB has also agreed to continue and expand the tests of the so -called 'daylight rule' for the outside.
The amendment to the law was defended by the former Arsenal manager Arsene Wener who believes that the attacking game encourages, but tests were initially hindered by the outbreak of the COVID-19 Pandemie.
There have also been concern that changing the law, so that a player is on the side as a part of the body that can touch the ball legally, equal to the second defender, gives too much benefit to the attacking player, and the unintended consequence of having the defenders can drop deeper.
If further tests of the 'daylight rule' confirm this early feedback, another option that could look at the IFAB is a change in the law with which a player is on the side when a part of his hull is on the second to last defender.
Sources in the vicinity of FIFA indicated that the administrative body of the global game did not exclude the fact that 'daylight' this summer the club World Cup was excluded in this summer.
Support was also given to continuous tests of the video -support (US) system, which is designed for competitions that do not have the means to implement VAR and to use a very small number of cameras.
The system enables coaches to take two challenges for decisions in a match, which lost a challenge if the decision of the original referee is maintained.
Nelson showed an interest in perhaps introducing this in League Football in Noord -Ireland, but did not set a timeline. The number of cameras in stages in the top four layers of the English game seems to be sure to exclude the possibility that US is being used there.
FIFA also confirmed its intention to test referee Bodycams at the Club World Cup, which could possibly give broadcasters an extra repeat angle to use.
'Law changes something that players have asked'
Sky News' Rob Harris:
“Goalists who hold the ball for too long, they will admit a corner in the future.
“The law currently states that you give an indirect free kick, but it is a law that rarely applies.
“Goalkeepers have been able to run the clock and that is what has led to the change.
“The time limit will increase from six to eight seconds that a goalkeeper can hold the ball, but from five seconds there will be a visual countdown by the referee who uses his hand to press home this point.
“The former referee David Elleray, who is part of IFAB, has said that it is something that players have asked. They find it ridiculous that a keeper can sometimes be seen if the ball holds for 10 seconds while he is on the ground.
“There have been tests at lower levels, including the U21 level, and they say it has accelerated games because keepers release the ball much faster.”
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