FIFA president Gianni Infantino has emphatically dominated out the prospect of blue cards enjoying any half in a future sin bin trial.
The cards have been set to be the sign which might be utilized by referees to present {that a} participant had been briefly dismissed in sin bin trial protocols which have been due for publication on February 9, and had been signed off at a board assembly of the sport’s lawmaking physique, the International Football Association Board, earlier that week.
However, when stories about blue cards circulated on February 8 they obtained a largely unfavourable response, and the IFAB pulled the plug on the day scheduled for publication, citing the want for additional talks at the organisation’s annual basic assembly this weekend.
FIFA needs to make clear that stories of the so-called ‘blue card’ at elite ranges of soccer are incorrect and untimely.
Any such trials, if carried out, ought to be restricted to testing in a accountable method at decrease ranges, a place that FIFA intends to reiterate when this…
— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) February 8, 2024
On the eve of Saturday’s assembly in Loch Lomond, Infantino mentioned: “There is not going to be any blue cards used at elite degree. This is a subject that’s non-existent for us.
“FIFA is totally opposed to blue cards. I used to be not conscious of this subject. I’m the president of FIFA, and I believe FIFA has a say in the IFAB. So, I don’t know if you’d like the title, ‘It’s red card to the blue card’!
“Every proposal and every idea has to be treated with respect, of course. But, once you look at it, you also have to protect the game, the essence of the game, the tradition of the game, and there is no blue card.”
The introduction of a blue card at the degree initially envisaged in the trial would have been the largest single change in the administration of participant self-discipline since the introduction of red and yellow cards at the 1970 World Cup.
It is known the trial itself will proceed to be developed, however it’s anticipated it is going to now happen at a a lot decrease footballing degree than was anticipated by the authentic February 9 protocol, which was set to encourage purposes from all however the very top-level competitions.
The Football Association, considered one of the 5 our bodies which makes up the IFAB, had been understood to have been excited by working a trial in the males’s and ladies’s FA Cups in the future, earlier than the furore round blue cards.
The trial can even require a brand new sign to be used as a substitute of the blue card. In grassroots soccer, referees present a yellow card and level to the touchline.
There are additionally set to be additional talks on Saturday about whether or not any sin bin trial ought to embrace tactical fouls, in addition to dissent. Also underneath the authentic protocol, all gamers on the pitch, together with goalkeepers, could possibly be briefly dismissed.
Sin bin trials have been considered one of 4 protocols set for publication final month earlier than the blue card story broke.
The IFAB can be in search of to trial permitting referees the choice of making a ‘captain-only zone’ round them once they really feel threatened or intimidated, and a trial the place referees can ship groups to their respective penalty areas to cool off in the occasion of mass confrontations.
All of those, together with the sin bin protocols, are in the end supposed to enhance participant behaviour at increased ranges, one thing Infantino has mentioned is crucial to set the proper instance to younger gamers and guarantee folks nonetheless really feel secure, and inspired, to be referees.
Another trial that had been set for publication on February 9 involved how lengthy goalkeepers can deal with the ball, and the way play ought to restart once they maintain on too lengthy.
Currently keepers can maintain on for six seconds and something over that’s supposed to be penalised with an oblique free-kick, however lawmakers are involved this isn’t being correctly enforced which is why a trial has been developed.
The administration of head accidents can be on the AGM agenda.
The World Leagues Forum and world gamers’ union FIFPRO have once more written to the IFAB asking for permission to trial momentary concussion substitutes, one thing which was once more rejected ultimately yr’s AGM in London.
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