New Laws of Football 2025/26

[davieG]

Just a reminder or in case you missed them.

 

 

Law Changes Summary

1. Only the Captain

Competitions can now mandate that only the team captain may approach referees—identified by an armband—to improve on-field respect and communication.

2. Goalkeeper 8‑Second Rule

A goalkeeper controlling the ball for over 8 seconds (visual 5‑second countdown by the referee) will result in a corner kick awarded to the opponent—replacing the old 6‑second, indirect free-kick rule.

3. Dropped Ball Clarification

If play stops in the penalty area, a dropped ball goes to the goalkeeper.

Outside, it's dropped to the team entitled to possession, or to the last player who touched it if unclear.

4. Ball Out of Play Contacts

If a staff member, substitute, sent-off or temporarily off-field player touches the ball as it’s exiting the field—no misconduct, just an indirect free-kick.

5. Offside from Keeper Throws

Offside is now determined by the last point of contact when the goalkeeper throws the ball (not release point).

6. VAR & AR Protocol Updates

Competitions may allow referees to announce VAR reviews publicly (as seen in FA Cup and Carabao Cup).

In VAR zones, assistant referees will align with the penalty spot, focusing solely on offside; VAR will monitor goal-line and keeper encroachment.

[PAULCFC]

Good luck with enforcing No1 !

[AKCJ]

The same bollocks every year.

 

This will all be meticulously followed for the first 3 weeks causing chaos and the rules will be mysteriously relaxed.

[coolhandfox]

2 minutes ago, PAULCFC said:

Good luck with enforcing No1 !

They manage it in Rugby.

[PAULCFC]

2 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

They manage it in Rugby.

Agreed....but Rugby players have respect for the Ref and they know the consequences if they step over the line.

Edited 3 July 2025 by PAULCFC
p

[Spudulike]

I want to see proper punishment for time wasting. In particular the amount of time taken over goal celebrations. Easy to enforce.

[VLC86]

10 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

They manage it in Rugby.

Only a limited number of rugby players can speak though.

[Fox92]

Same thread every year, same "new rules", and nothing ever changes.

[coolhandfox]

14 minutes ago, PAULCFC said:

Agreed....but Rugby players have respect for the Ref and they know the consequences if they step over the line.

Which is the real problem.

[PAULCFC]

Just now, coolhandfox said:

Which is the real problem.

Agree......in Rugby i think the move gets moved nearer to the offending teams line(not an expert) in football their is no deterent except a card that the refs rarely use.

[J. James]

3 minutes ago, PAULCFC said:

Agree......in Rugby i think the move gets moved nearer to the offending teams line(not an expert) in football their is no deterent except a card that the refs rarely use.

Yep, 10 mts for mouth. 

[dsr-burnley]

20 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

They manage it in Rugby.

Anyone is allowed to speak to the ref in rugby league, assuming the ref is willing to talk to them of course.  And in rugby league, the ref is miked up so that the world can hear what the player is saying (and yes, they know how not to swear!).

 

I remember one ref was telling off a player and the player was trying to put forward his defence - and the ref said, "No, I'm talking and you're listening".  Catch the FA supporting a ref who laid down the law like that?  Not a chance.

 

Actually, in rugby league they mandated a few seasons back that any player who swore at the ref would be sent off.  There were quite a few red cards, perhaps a dozen or so, in the first half of the season, but they learned.  Once again, it was taken for granted that the rule was there and the players did not have the right to ignore it.

[J. James]

4 minutes ago, PAULCFC said:

Agree......in Rugby i think the move gets moved nearer to the offending teams line(not an expert) in football their is no deterent except a card that the refs rarely use.

Also, if this was introduced in football when the free kick was say 8 mts outside the pen area and the brats were mouthing off it then becomes a free kick in the pen area - a penalty?

Can't imagine there would be much verbal bullying in such a case. 

[rugbyblue]

It may ruin a few games at the outset with numerous yellow or even red cards but to my mind it will be worth it in the long run.   Footballers argue against almost every decision, even if its blatantly a foul or opposition throw, and its taught from an early age.  I remember our under 15's manager telling us to "put pressure on the ref, call for everything".

 

A culture change is needed from grass roots up and refs need to be supported by the f.a. If they dish out cards, even if it means superstars being sent off and  suspended.

Edited 3 July 2025 by rugbyblue

[Hirsty The Blue 94]

29 minutes ago, coolhandfox said:

They manage it in Rugby.

Rugby is played 90% by privately educated posh toffs, where as football is largely a working class sport. Can you imagine Jamie Vardy calling a ref 'sir.' Refs at the top of the football game get paid enough to be called a naughty word every now and again.

[David Hankey]

Rule 2: Why are goalkeepers being penalised again? All players should be affected by this 8 second rule.

 

Outfield players can waste as much time as they want passing sideways and backwards and hogging the ball close to a corner flag.

 

Incidentally, it is already in the gift of the referee to caution players over time-wasting.

 

 

[Foxmeister]

39 minutes ago, PAULCFC said:

Good luck with enforcing No1 !

You’re right but a couple of weeks of strictly applying it would make it work. There won’t be many GKs leading teams out though.

[LcFc_Smiv]

A few bits on this which seemingly haven't been reported anywhere and will add to the chaos from the fans side. Players can still talk to the ref, the captain only rule will come into play when the ref initiates it, you'll still get some initial moments where players will go to/crowd the ref, it will be then when the ref initiates the captain only signal that players will have to move away and shut up. If the keeper is a captain then the team must designate an outfield player to take the responsibility to prevent teams trying to kill time waiting for a keeper to trudge up the pitch to talk to the ref.

 

The 8 second count only comes into play when the keeper is in control of the ball and is able to release it. So if they collect it from a corner, and opposition players are trying to prevent them from releasing it the 8s won't start. When the opposition moves away the ref will count to 3 and then initiate a 5s countdown with their hand held above their head. If an opposition player doesn't move away from the goalkeeper preventing them releasing the ball for a significant period of time the keeper will be awarded an indirect free kick. Something daft like only 15 incidents occured where this was punishable out of all the trials, so it's likely to rarely occur. First one is a warning, second is a caution (yc), third would then be a second yellow, you'll have fans going mad for a keeper to be sent off if they are already on a yellow then hold onto the ball for over 8 seconds. The other bit of this is they haven't used this trial in any stadium with any significant crowd, so it could be full on chaos when you have 20k in attendance counting to 8 as soon as a keeper collects it but the count technically shouldn't count, or if its like 8.1s on an actual count and released.

[Bablemikey]

Is it too much to expect that they could actually spell “offside”?

[davieG]

3 minutes ago, David Hankey said:

Rule 2: Why are goalkeepers being penalised again? All players should be affected by this 8 second rule.

 

Outfield players can waste as much time as they want passing sideways and backwards and hogging the ball close to a corner flag.

 

Incidentally, it is already in the gift of the referee to caution players over time-wasting.

 

 

The difference is you can tackle a player with the ball whilst the goalie is off limits.

 

It should apply to throw-ins maybe more that 8 secs though.

 

The biggest time wasting is free kicks within sight of goal mostly by the ref. Mark the spot, do the strides mark the line and then give them 1osec to take the kick.

 

Refs also seem to have stopped quick free kicks near to goal as well.

[PAULCFC]

1 minute ago, Foxmeister said:

You’re right but a couple of weeks of strictly applying it would make it work. There won’t be many GKs leading teams out though.

Yeah....but that's the problem all these new rules last about a month and are then forgotten about.....i remember when at the start of one season we had about 12 minutes extra time when that rule was brought in..

[LcFc_Smiv]

4 minutes ago, PAULCFC said:

Yeah....but that's the problem all these new rules last about a month and are then forgotten about.....i remember when at the start of one season we had about 12 minutes extra time when that rule was brought in..

I think that was more of a problem where it was going too far the other way, literally every little stoppage was being accounted for to the extreme.

[coolhandfox]

23 minutes ago, Hirsty The Blue 94 said:

Rugby is played 90% by privately educated posh toffs, where as football is largely a working class sport. Can you imagine Jamie Vardy calling a ref 'sir.' Refs at the top of the football game get paid enough to be called a naughty word every now and again.

How much they get paid is irrelevant.

 

[rugbyblue]

22 minutes ago, Hirsty The Blue 94 said:

Rugby is played 90% by privately educated posh toffs, where as football is largely a working class sport. Can you imagine Jamie Vardy calling a ref 'sir.' Refs at the top of the football game get paid enough to be called a naughty word every now and again.

I dont think its a class thing, its a culture thing.  Ive been involved in boxing all my life as well as football and the lads in boxing are arguably "rougher" and more "working class" than in football.  Yet respect is taught from the outset.....to your opponent to the ref etc.

You will rarely see a boxer arguing with the ref, apart from isolated incidents.  They might have a quick moan about an early stoppage but by and large decisions are accepted.  

[Groby_Blue]

53 minutes ago, Spudulike said:

I want to see proper punishment for time wasting. In particular the amount of time taken over goal celebrations. Easy to enforce.

Yep, a law could be introduced to say the game must re-start within 2 minutes of a goal, or something along those lines. 

 

The opposition kicks off after 120 seconds regardless of whether the side that have just scored are still dicking about in the corner. 

 

That would soon put an end to it.