New style of refereeing coming to England

Football was a long time away from the use of technology, unlike other sports, and even a little reluctant to accept substantial changes in its regulations. FIFA has constantly found itself in the search for new rules that allow football to be made a fairer and more entertaining sport. They have recently tried to implement technological advances in this sport, the most notorious being VAR, although there are other additions such as the goal line or the spray for free kicks.

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The most powerful world football organization announced in June of this year, along with the International Board, the modification of some rules that began to be applied in all its competitions as of July 1. Among them is the behavior of the goalkeeper in penalties, which will now be limited in terms of the movements he can make since he cannot make gestures or movements that can be considered distractions for the kicker of the penalty. Many say that this rule derives from the behavior of Argentinian goalkeeper Emiliano “Dibu” Martínez in penalties.

Rules were also added regarding the invasion of players or staff members who enter the pitch during a goal and interfere with the game in any way; the goal will be annulled and a free kick will be taken from where the invasion occurred. Although if it does not have any effect on the goal, it will be validated. This new rule is directly related to the match between Argentina and the Netherlands at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.

Likewise, if there is an excessive claim or problem on the benches and it is not possible to identify the person responsible, the manager will receive a warning. Normally, FIFA incorporates its new rules gradually, starting with children’s tournaments and gradually taking them to a professional level.

In the last edition of the FIFA World Cup played in Qatar, there were some differences in arbitration with respect to what had been usual in European and world football, which the Premier League and the EFL want to transfer to their respective competitions. The main difference or change in the way of refereeing that was observed in Qatar was that of the added times at the end of each half, since there were additions of 8 or 9 minutes or even more when normally an average of 3 minutes is added in the second half and 1 minute in the first half.

This is because it has been shown that in most football competitions in the world, there is little effective playing time, and the idea is, for the moment, to recover it with added time. However, there are rumors that the objective is to move to a game time that is limited to the time the ball is in play, that is, something similar to what happens in basketball. In this sense, in England, there will be a refereeing style that may seem a little different from what we are used to, but that is in accordance with the new rules indicated by FIFA and a trend that the highest body in world football has started.