Football, a sport with more than a century of history, continues to evolve today. The rules of the king of sports arouse heated debates every year due to different interpretations and the IFAB, the body in charge of developing and outlining the rules, has presented new changes to avoid the persistent doubts that arise season after season.
The British institution has made eight modifications related to, among other aspects, offside, penalties and the use of VAR that will come into force from the 2023-24 academic year, although some were already taken into account in the last World Cup in Qatar . These are the changes that the IFAB has approved:
The referee may cancel a goal, before the restart of play, if he finds that an unauthorized person was on the field of play at the time the goal was scored and had an influence on the play. This rule does not require the referee to signal an infraction for entering the field if the intrusion has no consequences for the action. This last assumption happened in the final of the last World Cup, when substitute players from Argentina and France entered the field during the action of one of the goals.
From now on, the reserve assistant referee is allowed to assist the main referee in the same way as the rest of the refereeing team on the field of play. In this way, the refereeing team on the field of play will be made up of the main referee, the assistants, the fourth official, the additional assistant referees and the reserve assistant referee. For its part, in the VOR room, the video referee will control the video assistant referee (VAR) and at least one VAR assistant (AVAR).
From now on, and as happened in the World Cup, the referee will take into account goal celebrations in added time. Thus, the amount of loss of time is added together with the substitutions and any other reason that includes a significant delay.
Rule 10 has been modified to clarify that warnings and reprimands issued to players and staff members during the match, throughout regulation time and overtime, will not be taken into account in the penalty shootout of a tie.
Kylian Mbappé’s goal in the 2021 UEFA Nations League final, which gave France the title against Spain, sparked an intense debate about whether the French player was offside. The goal went on the scoreboard and was completely legal thanks to an unrealistic interpretation of the rule. Eric Garcia’s light previous touch, in his clearance attempt, enabled the PSG player.
Now, the norm distinguishes between “voluntary game” and “deviations”. A footballer will voluntarily play the ball if he has the possibility to pass the ball to a teammate, regain possession and clear, either with his foot or his head. In order to clarify the voluntariness, it will be taken into account if the ball arrives from afar and the player sees it clearly, if the ball does not move at high speed, if the trajectory of the ball can be foreseen and if the player has time to coordinate his movements. The rule also clarifies that it is easier to play a ball that is on the field of play than when it is in the air.
It is not clear in all cases that an action is intended to play or challenge the ball (or both at the same time). The same principle will apply to an action in which the ball is disputed with the intention of playing it. If the referee awards a penalty as a result of an infringement with which the player has avoided an obvious chance of scoring, he will only send off the offender if said infringement was committed without having the possibility of playing the ball.
The goalkeeper ‘Dibu’ Martínez reached a global dimension in the semifinals of the last Copa América against Colombia. The Argentine saved several penalties in a shootout where he also psychologically won the game over the pitchers with constant comments. The goalkeeper later also claimed responsibility in the penalty shootout of the World Cup final in Qatar.
As of this next season, attitudes like that of the Argentine goalkeeper will no longer be allowed. It is clarified that, with his conduct, the goalkeeper will not disrespect the football or the opponent, for example, distracting the kicker in an unregulated manner.
The IFAB qualifies that to use the simplified VAR system it will not be necessary to have a repetition technician. The VAR will watch the game in the video room and depending on the number of cameras and other considerations, there may be more than one AVAR and one or more replay technicians.
