La Liga introduces 10-second delays rule while ruling out red cards for covered-mouth conversations

La Liga will introduce stricter measures to combat deliberate time-wasting in the new season, including sanctions for players who take too long to leave the pitch and goalkeepers who falsely claim to be injured.

The changes form part of an effort by the Technical Committee of Referees to increase effective playing time and make matches faster and more fluid. Referees will pay closer attention to actions that intentionally interrupt the flow of a game.

Some of the measures have already been used at the World Cup, while others will be implemented in Spain with certain differences. The central aim is to reduce delays and deal firmly with behaviour that affects the continuity of matches.

“Everyone hopes that common sense will prevail in order to apply the new rules,” a source from the Technical Committee of Referees told Spanish newspaper Marca.

One of the situations expected to receive increased scrutiny is a substitute deliberately taking too long to leave the field.

If a player takes more than 10 seconds to go off, the replacement will not be allowed to enter immediately. Instead, the incoming player must wait until the first stoppage in play after a full minute of effective playing time has passed.

A separate procedure will apply when a player is suspected of pretending to be injured. The player will be required to leave the pitch and will only be permitted to return after one minute has elapsed from the next stoppage. Play will not need to be stopped again specifically to allow the player back on.

Goalkeepers who deliberately claim to be injured in an attempt to stop the match and waste time will also be monitored particularly closely by the refereeing committee.

If the referee believes the injury is not genuine and that the stoppage was deliberate and unnecessary, the manager will have to choose one of their players to leave the pitch within 10 seconds.

Should that instruction not be followed, the team captain will be the player required to go off.

The refereeing committee has stated that, when there are clear indications of an intentional attempt to waste time, the referee can begin a 10-second countdown before applying the sanctions and procedures set out in the new regulations.

However, Spanish referees will not adopt another provision that has caused controversy in recent months. The rule would allow players to be sent off for covering their mouths while speaking to opponents, a measure that became known in the media as the “Vinicius law”.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) rules allow each competition to decide whether to apply the provision. Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees has chosen not to introduce it in domestic competitions.

“For us, covering the mouth will not be a red card. We do not know what the player said to his opponent, and we believe sending him off would be unfair and excessive,” committee officials said.

The decision means La Liga will combine tougher enforcement against delays with a refusal to impose the controversial punishment for private conversations between players.