Laws of the Game 2019/20: important clarifications 21 AUG 2019 please log in to view this image The IFAB has received much positive feedback on the impact of the changes to the Laws 2019/20 which have helped speed up the restart of play, reduce conflict and increase fairness. Understandably, there have been some requests to clarify certain aspects of the changes because of some apparent wrong understanding and application of the Laws. The Board of Directors of The IFAB has therefore issued circular no. 17 to help ensuring the Laws of the Game 2019/20 are consistently applied in all competitions organised by FIFA, the confederations and all national football associations. The clarifications relate to the substitution procedure, the dropped ball, the requirement to use red and yellow cards for offences by team officials, the penalty kick/kicks from the penalty mark and the VAR protocol. The change in Law 14 has given goalkeepers much greater freedom at a penalty kick (and a kick from the penalty mark) as they now only have to have at least (part of) one foot (rather than both feet) on the line when the kick is taken, with the additional freedom that the foot does not have to be touching the line but can be above it (in the air). If the goalkeeper encroaches and saves the kick, the referee will order a retake. However, if the ball misses the goal or rebounds from the goalpost(s) and/or crossbar, referees usually apply the ‘spirit’ of the Law and do not order a re-take unless the encroachment clearly impacted on the kicker. This continues to apply in VAR matches where the VAR must ‘check’ for any offence by the goalkeeper (and/or the kicker) and the VAR must inform the referee if there is clear replay evidence. If the replay evidence is not clear (because of camera position/angle, difficulty determining the exact moment the ball is played etc.) the VAR does not intervene. In addition, at the request of a number of competitions, the dispensation given to FIFA and CONMEBOL in June 2019 not to issue a caution (yellow card) to a goalkeeper encroaching during kicks from the penalty mark can now be used by any competition using VARs but only for kicks from the penalty mark; it does not apply to penalty kicks during ‘normal’ time. In addition to the requests for clarifications as outlined above, The IFAB has received very positive feedback to the changes to the goal kick and attacking players not being allowed in the defensive wall both of which have reduced management problems and speeded up the restart of play.
Law 14 means keepers can lawfully jump up and down, do cartwheels and backflips on their line while waiting for the kick to be took. This one is a bit confusing though. "In addition, at the request of a number of competitions, the dispensation given to FIFA and CONMEBOL in June 2019 not to issue a caution (yellow card) to a goalkeeper encroaching during kicks from the penalty mark can now be used by any competition using VARs but only for kicks from the penalty mark; it does not apply to penalty kicks during ‘normal’ time." Are penalty marks and penalty spots the same? What do they mean only penalty kicks during normal time?..................the only other penalties outside normal time are penalty shootouts.
