In a meeting of the International Football Association Board (Ifab), the board discussed various refereeing issues. The main issue was whether to continue the trial of additional assistant referees.
Ifab has announced that the trial with additional assistant referees will continue as a pilot programme over the next two years, and that any association may implement the experiment in a competition. On the post-meeting press conference, it was made clear that this was only an option for each association.
As this project is Michel Platini’s pet project, it is likely that the experiment will be present in one or more of the European competitions next season.
The board also discussed the role of the fourth official, and decided to amend the text to increase the fourth official’s duties within the game. As the text currently stands, the fourth official can only intervene if he has observed violent conduct on the field, if a player has been booked for the second time and not sent off, or if a case of mistaken identity has happened. The added portion states that fourth official should “assist the referee to control the match in accordance with the Laws of the Game”. The final decision will always be with the referee, but this amendment will allow the fourth official to alert the referee in the same manner as the assistant referees.
The final change made by the board was in regard to feinting while taking a penalty kick. The text will now read:
“Feinting in the run-up to take a penalty kick to confuse opponents is permitted, however feinting to kick the ball once the player has completed his run-up is now considered an infringement of Law 14 and an act of unsporting behaviour for which the player must be cautioned.“
On the post-meeting press conference it was clear that feinting in the run-up is allowed, but feinting to kick the ball to get a movement from the goalkeeper is now an infringement and must be punished by a yellow card.
The board did not discuss the triple-punishment, when a player gets sent off, concedes a penalty and receives a suspension. A survey will be conducted after the World Cup, where players, coaches and referees will be asked about Law 12. This will serve as a starting-point when Law 12 will be discussed on the board’s next meeting in March next year.
All these amendment will be implemented on June 1 in time for the World Cup.
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