Eight-second rule to reduce time-wasting by goalkeepers approved for next season
Positive results in trials this season prompted the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to change the law for the start of the 2025-26 season, replacing the current law where goalkeepers are supposed to concede an indirect free-kick if they hold on for more than six seconds
Thursday 6 March 2025 14:07, UK
Goalkeepers will concede a corner if they hold onto the ball for more than eight seconds from next season in a significant change to the laws of football.
Positive results in trials this season prompted the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to change the law for the start of the 2025-26 season, replacing the current law where goalkeepers are supposed to concede an indirect free-kick if they hold on for more than six seconds.
There has been a recognition that referees were hardly ever enforcing the six-second rule, in part because an indirect free-kick seemed too harsh a sanction, as well as the difficulties and the time required to set an indirect free-kick.
The eight-second rule has been trialled in Premier League 2 this season, plus competitions in Malta and Italy.
The IFAB said there had only been four instances where goalkeepers have been penalised in hundreds of trial matches, even with the rule being strictly applied on all but one occasion, which suggests goalkeepers do see the threat of conceding a corner as a significant deterrent.
Keepers will have no excuse for being unaware of the time limit either, with referees instructed to count down the final five seconds on a raised hand.
FIFA secretary general Mattias Grafstrom said his organisation intended to use the new law for its inaugural 32-team Club World Cup in the United States this summer.
'Significant impact on goalkeeper behaviour'
"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."
It is also understood there could be consideration given by the IFAB in the future to also awarding corners where goalkeepers take too long over dead ball goal kicks.
IFAB agrees to expand trials of 'daylight rule' for offsides
The IFAB has also agreed to continue and expand trials of the so-called 'daylight rule' for offsides.
The law change has been championed by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger who believes it encourages attacking play, but trials were hampered initially by the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
There have also been concerns that changing the law so that a player is onside if any part of the body which can legally touch the ball is level with the second-last defender gives too much of an advantage to the attacking player, and could have the unintended consequence of making defenders drop deeper.
If further trials of the 'daylight rule' confirm this early feedback, another option the IFAB could look at is trialling a law change where a player is onside if any part of their torso is level with the second-last defender.
Sources close to FIFA indicated the global game's governing body has not ruled out trialling 'daylight' offsides at this summer's Club World Cup.
Support was also given to continued trials of the Video Support (VS) system, which is designed for competitions that do not have the resources to implement VAR and have a very small number of cameras in use.
The system allows coaches to make two challenges to decisions in a match, losing a challenge if the original referee's decision is upheld.
Nelson expressed an interest in perhaps introducing this into league football in Northern Ireland, but did not set a timeline. The number of cameras in stadia in the top four tiers of the English game appear certain to rule out the possibility of VS being used there.
FIFA also confirmed its intention to trial referee bodycams at the Club World Cup, which could potentially give broadcasters an extra replay angle to use.
Merse questions how long rule will last
Sky Sports' Paul Merson likes the idea of the rule, but has questioned the longevity of its enforcement.
"When I was playing, we had a rule where it was seven seconds," Merson told Sky Sports News.
"I remember when we played at Highbury for Aston Villa and David James held the ball for more than seven seconds, they got a free-kick and I'm sure they scored.
"I've never seen it happen again. I never see any goalkeeper get pulled up. It was the only time I've ever seen it happening and I was involved in that game.
"I like the idea, but how long will it last? They make a rule and they'll change it.
"I don't know why it's a corner and why it's not a free-kick.
"If it's time-wasting, just give a free-kick where the goalkeeper was when he was time-wasting and where he had the ball after eight seconds."
'Law change something players have been asking for'
Sky News' Rob Harris:
"Goalkeepers who hold onto the ball too long they will in future concede a corner.
"The law currently states you concede an indirect free-kick but it is a law rarely applied.
"Goalkeepers have been able to run down the clock and that is what has led to the change.
"The time limit will increase from six to eight seconds that a goalkeeper can hold onto the ball, but from five seconds there will be a visual countdown by the referee using his hand to press home this point.
"The former referee David Elleray, who is part of IFAB, has been saying that it is something players have been asking for. They think it is ridiculous that a goalkeeper can sometimes be seen to be holding onto the ball for 10 seconds while on the ground.
"There have been trials at lower levels, including U21 level, and they are saying it has sped up games because goalkeepers are releasing the ball a lot quicker."
