MBABANE – The days of the slow walk are numbered.
In a move to eliminate time-wasting, football’s law-making body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), has proposed a strict 10-second limit for substituted players to leave the pitch.
According to FIFA, following the latest Annual Business Meeting (ABM), the new directive is part of a wider crackdown on tempo disruptions, ensuring the ball stays in play and the action remains continuous.
A formal decision on these proposals will be made during IFAB’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) in a week’s time. However, strict time limits for leaving the field have already been agreed upon in principle.
“The meeting agreed to enforce a 10-second time limit for players leaving the field when being substituted,” FIFA stated in its latest report.
Following recommendations made by IFAB’s Football and Technical Advisory Panels in October, the meeting also proposed amendments regarding players who receive on-field injury treatment or assessment. Under the proposal, such players must leave the field and remain off it for a fixed period after play restarts. During a pilot of this law in the FIFA Arab Cup 2025, players receiving on-field treatment were required to stay off for two minutes.
In relation to the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) protocol, the ABM recommended that intervention should remain restricted to four match-changing situations: goals, penalties, direct red cards and mistaken identity. However, three specific extensions have been suggested that would not slow the flow of play.
The ABM proposed that, where there is clear factual evidence, video match officials should be permitted to review red cards resulting from factually incorrect second yellow cards, as well as cases in which the wrong team is penalised for an offence resulting in a red or yellow card. It has also been proposed to allow competitions the option for officials to review instances of clearly wrongly awarded corner kicks, provided this can be done immediately without delaying the restart.
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