The International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body responsible for determining the laws of the game, has approved the introduction of permanent additional substitutions for players suffering from concussion injuries, leaving the decision to implement it to individual competition organizers.
During its annual meeting in Scotland yesterday, IFAB also revealed that it is working on developing proposals for temporary dismissals for dissent and tactical fouls.
The International Football Association Board highlighted changes and improvements to the laws of the sport, with the introduction of permanent additional substitutions for concussion injuries set to come into effect from July 1. Further experiments are also planned.
Ian Maxwell, CEO of the Scottish Football Association, stated, “Regarding permanent additional substitutions for concussion injuries, the trial we conducted is now effectively concluded and is now enshrined in the laws of the game.”
He added, “It will be up to each competition to determine whether they wish to use permanent concussion substitutions in accordance with the protocol.”
The protocol allows a team to replace a player suspected of having a head injury without it counting towards the team’s allotted substitutions in the match.
In addition, IFAB has approved allowing only the team captain to approach the referee and discuss certain incidents and has mandated cooling breaks to allow referees to consult with the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) or conduct a longer VAR review for other competitions.
Participating competitions will require permission from the committee and must adhere to FIFA’s refereeing and technology guidelines.
Furthermore, amendments have been made to Law 12 regarding fouls and misconduct, requiring that inadvertent handballs resulting in penalty kicks be treated the same as other fouls, and amending Law 14 (penalty kicks) to specify that the ball must touch part of or the entire penalty mark, with encroachment punishable by outfield players only if it has an effect.
