International commission approves new rules for football, effective July.

By Igor Santos, EBC reporter - The International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body that oversees the rules of football, held a meeting this Saturday (2), in Scotland, which determined some changes to be applied from July 1st. The main one establishes that in case of concussion (head injury), the team of the affected player may make one more substitution, respecting the necessary protocol in situations of this type.

The assembly also defined four more rule changes, of varying degrees of importance in the course of the game. The first requires teams to have a captain with an armband to identify him.

Rule 4 establishes that players are responsible for the size and fit of their own shin guards, which are mandatory.

Under rule 12, non-intentional handball offenses, which are punishable by a penalty kick when inside the penalty area, should be treated the same way as other fouls.

Finally, in penalty kicks, part of the ball must touch or be over the penalty spot, and players entering the penalty area in these situations should only be penalized if it has an impact on the flow of play.

These changes will take effect on July 1st, but according to IFAB, competitions that begin before this date may implement them earlier or postpone them until the next edition.

In addition to the changes to these rulebook texts, the commission announced three tests that will be conducted in competitions below the top two divisions in each country.

The first test will be to allow only the team captain to approach the referee in certain situations. The second will be the creation of a period to cool down the teams in case of a scuffle, during which the referee will ask each team to go to their own area. Finally, a change will be tested in the time the goalkeeper has to put the ball back into play: from six to eight seconds. If they fail to do so, possession will be reversed.

"Blue card," for now, is left out of the changes. One of the items that generated the most curiosity in the weeks leading up to the assembly was the possible adoption of a "blue card," a kind of middle ground between the yellow and red cards, which would be used in situations where a player commits an unsportsmanlike foul. In that case, the athlete would be off the field of play for 10 minutes.

According to Reuters, the president of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA), Gianni Infantino, said he was completely opposed to the measure. At Saturday's meeting, the CEO of the English Football Association, Mark Bullingham, stated that there had been a misunderstanding when the issue was raised in November.

"When we made the announcement, there was no negative reaction. On the contrary, there was a lot of support for the blue card proposal. However, for some reason, Premier League officials thought it would apply to their teams, and that wasn't the intention. We want to get the protocol right before taking it to the top divisions. To do it away from the pressure of cameras and fans," said Bullingham.