A raft of changes to the laws of football will come in from next season as part of a wide-ranging attempt to cut down on cheating and time-wasting.
Football lawmakers the International FA Board (Ifab) have agreed to bring in a number of significant amendments for the new campaign.
They include:
- Fouls for certain non-deliberate handballs
- Attacking players banned from going in the wall at free-kicks
- Substituted players leaving the field via the nearest touchline
- A revamp of the dropped ball system
- Goalkeepers only having to have one foot on the line at penalties
- Goal kicks no longer having to leave the area before they can be played at
- Red and yellow cards to be shown to dissenting team officials Ifab, which consists of the four home nations, who each have a vote, and Fifa, which has four votes, agreed the amendments at their conference in Aberdeen on Saturday.
As it stands, the law states that non-deliberate handballs should not be penalised. However, the tweak, aimed at reducing the grey area, will now see non-deliberate handballs which provide clear advantages penalised in certain circumstances.
Attacking players have often gone into defending walls in a bid to create disruption and extra space but from next season will have to stay one-metre away.
Former Premier League referee David Elleray, Ifab technical advisor, acknowledged that managers often use substitutions to waste time. He believes the new law will end what he described as 'a pantomime' when it comes to players delaying their exits.
Elleray also branded the current dropped ball situation as 'a mess' and said that teams were using it to unfairly put their opponents under pressure. From next season, the ball will be dropped to a player from the team which had possession before the break in play with opponents made to stay four metres away.
In another change, goalkeepers will only have to have one foot on the line at penalties. The amendment is aimed at allowing keepers to react to takers who stutter their run ups and making it easier for referees to officiate.
Goal kicks and free kicks in the area for defending teams will no longer have to leave the area before they can be played at. Elleray says this is aimed at speeding the game up.
Meanwhile. Fifa president Gianni Infantino attended the conference and stated that male players could learn from their female counterparts when it came to behaviour.
'Women are nicer than men,' he said. 'Probably generally because sometimes we men feel that we need to show how strong we are, as probably human nature. This is reflected in some of the behaviour in society in general but also on the football pitch.'