Football’s lawmakers have approved new rules to reduce time-wasting and expand the use of video review.
The changes were agreed by International Football Association Board at its annual meeting near Cardiff and will come into force on 1 July. Competitions starting before then, including the 2026 World Cup in June, may choose to apply them.
Countdown on restarts
Referees will be able to apply a five-second countdown for throw-ins and goal kicks if they judge a player is delaying.
If the time is exceeded, a throw-in will be awarded to the opposition. A slow goal kick will result in a corner to the other team.
Substitutions must be completed within 10 seconds. If a player does not leave the pitch in time, his replacement must wait until the next stoppage and after a one-minute delay, leaving the team temporarily with fewer players.
Players receiving treatment must stay off the field for at least 60 seconds before returning. Goalkeepers are exempt, as are players injured in fouls that lead to a booking.
Last year, IFAB limited goalkeepers to eight seconds when holding the ball, a rule first tested at the Club World Cup.
VAR expanded
The scope of VAR will widen. Officials will be able to review red cards shown after a wrongly awarded second yellow, correct cases of mistaken identity and overturn wrongly given corners when there is clear evidence.
The meeting at Hensol Castle was attended by FIFA president Gianni Infantino.
Why the rules are changing
Data from the 2025 to 26 Premier League season shows the ball is in play for an average of 55 minutes in a 100-minute match. That means about 45% of games are spent waiting for restarts, the lowest level in a decade.
Throw-ins have become a major source of delay. The average wait this season is 17.7 seconds. Some teams take around 25 seconds per throw, and in certain matches more than 10 minutes has been lost to throw-ins alone.
Long throws of more than 20 metres into the penalty area have more than tripled since last season, with teams treating them like short corners and taking longer to organise.
Goal kicks currently take an average of 30.3 seconds. Under the new rules, exceeding the limit will hand the opposition a corner, a far greater threat than a caution.
Research also shows throw-ins taken within five seconds retain possession 94.4% of the time. When delayed beyond 15 seconds, that drops to 78%.
Set-pieces account for 25% of all non-penalty goals this season, increasing the impact of wrongly awarded corners. IFAB believes the changes could add three to five minutes of active play per match, moving closer to the 60 minutes of ball-in-play time long demanded by fans and broadcasters.
