International Board proposes to keep 5 changes and discards 25-minute breaks

La International Football Association Board (IFAB) rejected the proposal to increase the duration of the break from 15 to 25 minutes and agreed to propose in its General Assembly next March that permanently keep the option to make five changes and that it is the competitions that decide in this regard.

During the annual working meeting, held this Thursday virtually and chaired by FIFA, the IFAB board of directors valued the possibility of extending the rest time, but several members expressed their concern, in particular about the possible negative impact in the well-being and safety of the players by lengthening the period of inactivity, and the proposal was unsuccessful.

The body confirmed that yes agreed to submit a formal recommendation at the IFAB’s annual general meeting, scheduled for March 4 and 5 in Zurich, regarding the permanent extension of the option that allows up to five substitutions per team in elite football.

The measure, included due to the impact of the pandemic as a temporary modification in the rules of the game in 2020 to protect the well-being of the players, has been extended several times and was authorized until December 31, 2022, but the Technical and Football panels of the organization already raised its maintenance on a permanent basis last October.

This Thursday the IFAB members agreed with this approach and that the competitions may decide to increase the number of substitutes depending on the needs of your football environment, with the maintenance of the current number of allowed opportunities (three plus rest).

As reported by the IFAB, this Thursday also clarifications were made of the Laws of the Game and it was confirmed that the goalkeeper must be on the goal line before a penalty is taken, or in a penalty shoot-out, and this will not be penalized for having one foot behind the goal line at the time the kick is taken.

Regarding substitutions in cases of concussions and in accordance with the recommendation of the football and technical advisory panels, it was agreed to extend the initial trial period by one year (scheduled for August 2022).

The incidents of concussion registered since the beginning of the trials in January 2021 have been scarce and despite having the participation of more than 100 competitions for tests it has been decided to expand them.

The IFAB considers “extremely important for the well-being of the players that rehearsals focus on permanently removing those footballers who have suffered a concussion or are suspected of having a concussion from the field”.

During the meeting the FIFA reported on future innovations that would allow competitions with fewer resources to access the video arbitration technologyas well as the latest advances in systems that could help video referee teams to make decisions with greater agility and precision in the event of possible offside (the so-called ‘semi-automated technology for offside detection’).

The IFAB recalled that the annual work meeting held today is the one that defines the agenda of the general assembly of the next March, in which it will be decided on the approval of the proposed changes to the Laws of the Game and any modifications agreed upon will be included in the Laws of the Game to enter into force on July 1, 2022. (D)