Various changes and clarifications to the Laws of the Game were agreed at the AGM, with a particular focus on Law 12 – Fouls and Misconduct. As the interpretation of handball incidents has not always been consistent due to incorrect applications of the Law, the members confirmed that not every touch of a player’s hand/arm with the ball is an offence. In terms of the criterion of the hand/arm making a player’s body “unnaturally bigger”, it was confirmed that referees should continue to use their judgment in determining the validity of the hand/arm’s position in relation to the player’s movement in that specific situation. Following this clarification, it is a handball offence if a player:
- deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example moving the hand/arm towards the ball;
- touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger. A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation. By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalised; or
- scores in the opponents’ goal:
- directly from their hand/arm, even if accidental, including by the goalkeeper; or- immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm, even if accidental.
Accidental handball that leads to a team-mate scoring a goal or having a goal-scoring opportunity will no longer be considered an offence.
Other clarifications were approved at the AGM for inclusion in the Laws of the Game 2021/22, including to Law 11 (the Law 12 definition for handball, whereby the arm ends at the bottom of the armpit, must be used when judging whether a player is in an offside position) and Law 12 (the offence of using a “trick” to circumvent the Law against the goalkeeper handling the ball from a deliberate kick from a team-mate will apply at goal kicks; the instigator will be cautioned). It was agreed that, to give players, coaches and match officials more time to become familiar with the changes to the Laws of the Game, the date on which they become effective will move from 1 June to 1 July, although competitions will retain the flexibility to introduce changes prior to that date. (Source: IFAB)
Pierluigi Collina, the chairman of the FIFA referees committee, admitted that the lawmakers had "gone too far" in disallowing goals when the ball had been accidentally handled by a teammate before a goal was scored. "This was a change that responds to the spirit of football," Collina said.
David Elleray, the IFAB Technical Director, explained the reasons for changing the defensive handball law. "Handball will always be a problem in the sense it will always be a subjective judgement," Elleray said. "And unless we went to the extreme of the hockey foot rule, where any time the ball hits the foot it's an offence, which is the only way we can stop perceived inconsistencies. So, handball is always going to be a journey to an ideal but we'll never get there because it's a subjective area. And we have to accept that. That is why applying the spirit is the most important aspect of the law."
Collina added: "What we tried to do in 2019 was to reflect into the Laws of the Game all the criteria the referees were already given. This was interpreted too strictly. The decision was made today, in terms of wording and not sense of handling the ball, to make the law more understandable by the football community, to allow the referee to make the final decision based upon the assessment of the incident itself. People have said that the current wording is far too rigid and inflexible. What we're basically doing is reflecting in the wording exactly what football commentators and football people say, which is referees must continue to take account of the player's arm position relative to what that player is doing and how that player is moving for that particular moment in the game. That is the over-riding principle."
Arsene Wenger also made a presentation to the IFAB Board proposing a change to the offside law, which would mean a player would be onside if any part of their body was level with the second-last defender. However, at present there are no confirmed plans to push ahead with this change, and it would require extensive trials before entering the Laws. "We will test a potential change to the offside law, an offside law which has only changed twice," FIFA president Gianni Infantino said. "Our aim as IFAB is always to see if we can make football more attractive, without changing the nature off football. With the change in the speed of the game, especially VAR which makes it clear when there is an offside and when there is not, we have been saying that maybe, maybe we could think about a law which allows a bit more attack in football. In summary, it is if the attacking player is ahead of the second-last defender but still with one part of the body that can score still in line. So giving the attacking player a bit more room. Obviously, such a change will need to be tested. We have to see what kind of impact this would have on the game: if positive, if negative. But we are always here to be open to ideas and if we can make football even more attacking we'll certainly look at that. To say it will happen in a few years from now? Well we will see."
Elleray added: "It's not a preferred solution, it's a possible solution. Timelines are impossible to give especially given the pandemic. But it's an interesting idea which will be looked at carefully."
The IFAB confirmed that trials of Artificial Intelligence-driven semi-automated VAR offside technology, aimed at speeding up the VAR process and making it more accurate, were successful at the Club World Cup in February, and the plan remains to implement it at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
VAR-lite was also approved, which will enable more leagues with limited budgets to use the technology at a much lower cost. The representatives of the Welsh and Northern Ireland associations said they would look to implement this as soon as possible. (Source: ESPN)