The International Football Association Board (Ifab) decided to implement this change for the 2025-26 season following positive trial results this year.
This new rule replaces the current law where goalkeepers must concede an indirect free-kick if they hold the ball for more than six seconds. ..Continue Reading
It was recognized that referees rarely enforced the six-second rule, partly because an indirect free-kick was deemed too harsh and also due to the complexities and time required to set it up.
The eight-second rule has been tested in Premier League 2, as well as competitions in Malta and Italy this season.
According to Ifab, goalkeepers were penalized only four times in hundreds of trial matches, even with strict enforcement of the rule in almost every case. This indicates that goalkeepers perceive the threat of conceding a corner as a significant deterrent.
Referees will also count down the final five seconds with a raised hand, ensuring that goalkeepers are well aware of the time limit.
FIFA Secretary General Mattias Grafstrom mentioned that the organization plans to use the new law during the inaugural 32-team Club World Cup in the United States this summer.
“You can see it has a significant impact on goalkeeper behaviour,” Patrick Nelson, the chief executive of the Irish Football Association and an Ifab director, said at a press conference in Belfast.
He said the six-second rule, and the failure to enforce it, had “been a bane of many people’s lives for quite some time”.
“Some action has been taken on that. The results of (the trials) have been very, very positive, and so we are going to move forward to try and put that into the laws of the game as soon as possible.”
The Ifab might consider awarding corners for goalkeepers who take too long with dead ball goal kicks in the future.
Additionally, the Ifab has decided to continue and expand trials of the ‘daylight rule’ for offsides.
Former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has championed this rule change, believing it promotes attacking play. However, the trials were initially disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
There are concerns that allowing a player to be onside if any part of their body that can legally touch the ball is level with the second-last defender might give attackers too much of an advantage, potentially causing defenders to drop deeper.
Should further trials of the ‘daylight rule’ confirm these concerns, the Ifab may consider trialing a rule change where a player is onside if any part of their torso is level with the second-last defender.
Sources close to FIFA have indicated that the governing body has not ruled out testing ‘daylight’ offsides at this summer’s Club World Cup.
Support has also been given to the continued trials of the Video Support (VS) system, which is designed for competitions that lack the resources for VAR and have a limited number of cameras.
This system allows coaches to challenge decisions twice per match, with a challenge lost if the original referee’s decision is upheld.
Nelson has shown interest in potentially introducing this system into league football in Northern Ireland but has not set a timeline. The number of cameras in the top four tiers of English football makes it unlikely that VS will be implemented there.
FIFA also confirmed plans to trial referee bodycams at the Club World Cup, which could offer broadcasters an additional replay angle.
