Referees will award a corner to the opposition if a goalkeeper holds on to the ball for too long, under a new system being considered by football’s lawmakers.
Under the proposed change, trialled successfully in the Premier League’s under-21 competition, goalkeepers would not be allowed to hold the ball for longer than eight seconds, with referees raising their hand and counting down from five seconds to zero.
The trials, which have also taken place in Malta, are now set to be extended to Italy’s under-20 league after it was shown to be a big deterrent to goalkeepers holding the ball for too long. If that is deemed successful then it is likely to be adopted across the game.
At the moment, referees have the power to award an indirect free kick if the goalkeeper fails to release the ball quickly enough. However, match officials are often reluctant to do so because that leads to a clear goalscoring chance and creates further delays while the defending team try to build a defensive wall.
Wenger’s suggested proposal around changes to the offside rule will also be investigated further
INDRANIL MUKHERJEE/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES
Patrick Nelson, the Irish FA’s chief executive and a board member of the International FA Board (Ifab), which is responsible for the laws of the game, said: “The data that’s coming out of it so far is very, very interesting, in that the two trials so far have been that if the goalkeeper is holding on to the ball too long, the referee will award a corner.
“The instances of corners being awarded are almost non-existent, which would indicate to us, certainly looking at the data, that the deterrent is exactly what we would want it to be at this point, and it’s speeding up the goalkeepers letting go of the ball and bringing it back into play.”
-In the Malta trial, the ball has been held by goalkeepers on 796 occasions and they have never exceeded eight seconds. Under the Italian trial, a throw-in will be awarded instead of a corner but that is seen as less of a deterrent.
“The wrath of any coach for any goalkeeper who’s given away a corner or a throw-in that leads to a goal is always certainly going to mean the goalkeeper is not going to do that twice,” Nelson added. “It’s going to change goalkeeper behaviour.”
Ifab is also going to look again at proposals to change the offside law. Trials are continuing to take place of a proposal put forward by Arsène Wenger, Fifa’s chief of global football, in which there has to be daylight between the attacker and defender.
David Elleray, the Ifab technical director, said: “We’re continuing to discuss those. We’re all very sympathetic to the fact that technology has removed the benefit of the doubt that used to exist.
“We all agree that it would be nice if goals weren’t necessarily chalked off for a toenail. We’re looking at that and this trial is part of a broader look at whether there is anything we can do.
“We are seeing if there are ways in which we could deal with the challenges. This is part of an early debate.”
