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Business Standard
4 days ago
- Sport
- Business Standard
No more second chances in Football! 134-year-old rule to be changed?
A fundamental shift in football's penalty-taking tradition may be on the horizon. For over 130 years, penalty kicks have offered more than a single opportunity, the chance for follow-ups and rebounds has often provided dramatic moments, unforgettable goals, and heartbreak alike in the world of football. But if proposed changes are accepted by the International Football Association Board (IFAB), scoring from rebounds off a missed penalty could soon become a thing of the past. The suggested revision would mean that once a penalty is taken, the ball is no longer 'live'. If the kicker misses or the goalkeeper saves, play would immediately restart with a goal-kick or another designated dead-ball scenario, eliminating the possibility of follow-up attempts. Think of it as football's version of hockey's penalty stroke: one chance, no second act. The logic behind the proposal is to reduce unfair advantages that attackers currently enjoy. Critics argue that the punishment for defensive fouls inside the box, often marginal handballs or soft contact, disproportionately benefits the attacking team. Rebounds, they say, create an extra chance that the original foul did not warrant. With goalkeepers already restricted by rules like keeping one foot on the line, defenders are increasingly under pressure in penalty situations. Football to be hampered with over-tinkering of laws? However, not everyone is on board. Many believe this is yet another example of over-tinkering with the laws of the game. Football, they argue, thrives on unpredictability and drama, qualities that rebound goals often deliver in abundance. Erasing them might make the game more sterile. At the heart of the debate is the growing influence of VAR. The video assistant referee system, while designed to eliminate clear and obvious errors, is increasingly being used to micro-manage games, from offside calls down to marginal touches. Now, IFAB is considering expanding VAR's reach even further, allowing it to check for second yellow cards, reverse corner decisions, and enforce the proposed penalty rule. No second chances in FIFA 2026 World Cup? If adopted, the law change would be in place by the 2026 World Cup, the first to feature 48 teams. Discussions are ongoing at the highest levels, with support reportedly coming from FIFA president Gianni Infantino. It's part of a broader effort to make the game more efficient and fair, with fewer stoppages and controversial decisions. Some trials have already been conducted, including at youth tournaments and the Under-21 European Championship. These trials have included additional timing mechanisms, such as a five-second countdown for goalkeepers to release the ball. While the intentions may be rooted in fairness, the shift could alter the very soul of spot-kicks. Penalties have always been moments of tension and high drama, and rebounds, love them or hate them, are part of that heritage.
Yahoo
12-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Fifa opens office in Trump Tower, deepening ties with US president
Fifa's relationship with the US president, Donald Trump, now has a physically tangible marker, with soccer's world governing body announcing it has opened an office in Trump Tower in New York City. The announcement of the new office came on Monday evening, after Fifa placed the Club World Cup trophy on display in the lobby of the skyscraper in an event attended by several Fifa dignitaries including its president, Gianni Infantino, and the Brazilian great Ronaldo as well as Eric Trump, the son of the US president and executive vice-president of the Trump Organization. Related: Qatar weighs up 2029 Club World Cup bid that could mean winter tournament 'Fifa [is] a global organisation [and] to be global you have to be local, you have to be everywhere, so we have to be in New York,' Infantino said. 'Not just for the Fifa Club World Cup this year and the Fifa World Cup next year – we have to be in New York as well when it comes to where our offices are based. Thank you, Eric [Trump], thank you to everyone. Thanks, of course, to president Trump as well.' Fifa did not provide specifics on which staff or departments would be housed in New York. It is now a tenant of the company owned by the sitting US president with the start of its biggest and most lucrative tournament next June. It follows Fifa's opening in 2024 of an office in Miami, Florida, which houses the organization's legal division and some staff responsible for putting on the Club World Cup and next year's World Cup. Some staff from Fifa's global headquarters in Zurich were relocated to the US to work in Miami. 'On behalf of myself, on behalf of New York, on behalf of the Trump Organization and everybody that works in this building – we love you,' Eric Trump said in remarks at the event. 'We're honoured, we're excited about all the things that Fifa is doing.' The office opening continues efforts by Fifa and Infantino to appear publicly close to the US president, with Infantino describing his relationship with Trump as 'absolutely crucial' in a February meeting with the International Football Association Board in February. Infantino has since appeared with the US president at several public events, including at the Oval Office when announcing the creation of a World Cup task force. In that meeting, Infantino presented Trump with the Club World Cup trophy, which has continued to be on display in the Oval Office for all of the president's scheduled events in the space. Infantino was later present at the first public meeting of the World Cup taskforce, at which he was seated alongside Trump with vice-president JD Vance. Infantino also accompanied Trump to the Middle East this year – a trip that made him late for the Fifa congress in Paraguay, angering Fifa delegates who walked out of the gathering in protest. Uefa later accused Infantino of putting 'private political interests' ahead of his Fifa responsibilities, and Human Rights Watch demanded that Infantino reveal the specific purpose and details of his trip, which he has yet to do. 'As president of Fifa my responsibility is to make decisions in the interests of the organisation,' Infantino said at the congress, where he apologized for his tardyness. 'I felt that I needed to be there to represent football and all of you.'
Fox Sports
07-07-2025
- Sport
- Fox Sports
U.S. Coach Mauricio Pochettino Rips 'Embarrassing' Missed Penalty Call In Gold Cup Final Loss
HOUSTON — U.S. men's national team coach Mauricio Pochettino slammed the officiating in the Americans' 2-1 loss to Mexico in Sunday's Gold Cup final, saying his side should have been awarded a penalty kick with the score tied at one in the second half. The USMNT opened the scoring in the fourth minute, when defender Chris Richards headed Sebastian Berhalter's free-kick past Mexican keeper Luis Malagon, off the underside of the crossbar and across the goal line. El Tri equalized before the half was over via its star striker Raul Jimenez. But Pochettino felt that Mexico defender Jorge Sanchez handled the ball inside his penalty area in the 67th minute, and replays clearly showed Sanchez put his hand on top of the ball: Mexico captain Edson Alvarez scored the winner 10 minutes later. According to the International Football Association Board's Laws of the Game, a penalty is not to be awarded when a defending player falls "and the ball hits their supporting arm, which is between their body and the ground." Neither of those exceptions were present in this case, though: The ball did not hit Sanchez — he hit it with his hand, which didn't touch the ground until after he palmed the ball. "I want to tell the truth," Pochettino said during his post-match press conference. "And the truth was that if that happened in the other box, for sure it's a penalty. The player [had] a knee on the floor. He pushed the hand over the ball. It's not that the hand was on the floor and the ball touched [Sanchez]." U.S. midfielder Tyler Adams thought it was blown call, too. "To me it looked like a handball," Adams said. "I mean, when you land on the ball and move the ball towards you, it's going to be a handball normally." Had the penalty been given, "maybe it's 2-1 for us, and maybe we now are celebrating with the trophy," Pochettino continued. The former Chelsea, PSG and Tottenham Hotspur manager then suggested that the huge pro-Mexican crowd at sold-out NRG Stadium could have factored into the no-call by referee Mario Escobar. "For me, it was embarrassing to see that situation…I understand that maybe with 70,000 people, giving this penalty is not easy." Still, it's hard to say that El Tri didn't deserve to win the match against a U.S. squad that was missing as many as eight regular starters, including headliner Christian Pulisic. Mexico out-shot the hosts 16-6 and controlled 60-percent of possession. "If we lose, we lose. No problem," Pochettino said. "I am the first to say we need to improve. I am not crying. I'm not saying nothing against Mexico, nothing. I respect Mexico, full respect. And I congratulate them." Doug McIntyre is a soccer reporter for FOX Sports who has covered United States men's and women's national teams at FIFA World Cups on five continents. Follow him @ ByDougMcIntyre . recommended Get more from Gold Cup Follow your favorites to get information about games, news and more in this topic
Daily Mirror
11-06-2025
- Sport
- Daily Mirror
Significant law change introduced today to stop goalkeepers time wasting
UEFA's European Under-21 Championships will be the first competition to see the new law enforced after it was implemented for the start of the tournament after trials Goalkeepers will concede a corner for holding onto the ball too long after a change of the law by UEFA. The new punishment will see shotstoppers permitted to cling onto the ball for a total of eight seconds instead of six. Previously an indirect free-kick would be awarded against goalkeepers holding possession in their hands too long. Now, with the start of the UEFA European under-21 Championship in Slovakia, Europe's governing body have decided to implement that law that was agreed upon by the International Football Association Board earlier this year. Officials will now be required to utilise a 'visible five-second countdown' to signal the end of the time limit. The eight seconds will begin when 'the goalkeeper has full control of the ball and is not being challenged by an opposing player' per guidelines. The change comes after studies showed referees rarely enforced the previous law due to the difficulty in managing an indirect free-kick or it seeming too great an advantage to award. All UEFA competitions will introduce the new law. The change has undergone rigorous testing which saw it introduced in Premier League 2. Trials in Malta showed goalkeepers held onto the ball on 796 occasions and never exceeded eight seconds amid the change in punishment. Patrick Nelson, the Irish FA's chief executive and a board member of IFAB, spoke in favour of the law-change in December. "The data that's coming out of it so far is very, very interesting, in that the two trials so far have been that if the goalkeeper is holding on to the ball too long, the referee will award a corner," he said. 'The instances of corners being awarded are almost non-existent, which would indicate to us, certainly looking at the data, that the deterrent is exactly what we would want it to be at this point, and it's speeding up the goalkeepers letting go of the ball and bringing it back into play. "The wrath of any coach for any goalkeeper who's given away a corner or a throw-in that leads to a goal is always certainly going to mean the goalkeeper is not going to do that twice. It's going to change goalkeeper behaviour." The 'double touch' penalty rules have also been changed following the controversy that engulfed Julian Alvarez's disallowed kick in Atletico Madrid's Champions League defeat to neighbours Real. A circular memo released by Ifab, has provided clarity around the rare instance. '(When) the penalty taker accidentally kicks the ball with both feet simultaneously or the ball touches their non-kicking foot or leg immediately after the kick: If the kick is successful, it is retaken," the memo said. 'If the kick is unsuccessful, an indirect free kick is awarded (unless the referee plays advantage when it clearly benefits the defending team) or, in the case of penalties (penalty shoot-out), the kick is recorded as missed.'
Kuwait Times
04-06-2025
- General
- Kuwait Times
After Madrid penalty confusion, IFAB rules for retakes
PARIS: If Julian Alvarez slips while taking a spot kick for Atletico Madrid at the Club World Cup this month, he will get the second chance he was denied in the Champions League in March, after international football's rule-making body on Tuesday clarified the double-touch rule. Football's rule-making International Football Association Board (IFAB) announced that if players unintentionally touch the ball twice while taking a spot kick and still find the net, they should be allowed a retake. Alvarez slipped as he netted his penalty kick in a shootout to decide a Champions League Madrid derby. Video review (VAR) detected that he touched the ball twice and the referee ruled the shot a miss under Law 14, which deals with the penalty kick. Real went on to win 4-2. After the match, European governing body UEFA said that 'under the current rule, the VAR had to call the referee signaling that the goal should be disallowed'. UEFA said it would hold talks with world football's governing body FIFA and the rule-making International Football Association Board (IFAB). On Tuesday, IFAB issued its ruling. It was to come into force on July 1, but FIFA at once announced the change would apply to the Club World Cup, which kicks off in the United States on June 15 with both Madrid clubs among the 32 teams. 'The situation where the penalty taker accidentally kicks the ball with both feet simultaneously or when the ball touches the penalty taker's non-kicking foot or leg immediately after they have taken the kick... is rare,' wrote Lukas Brud, IFAB's secretary in a circular. 'As it is not directly covered in Law 14, referees have understandably tended to penalise the kicker for having touched the ball again,' he wrote. However, he added, the law 'is primarily intended for situations where the penalty taker deliberately touches the ball a second time before it has touched another player'. 'This is very different from the penalty taker accidentally kicking the ball with both feet simultaneously or touching the ball with their non-kicking foot or leg immediately after they have taken the kick, which usually occurs because they have slipped.' Brud pointed out that even an accidental second touch could be unfair to a goalkeeper because it changes the ball's trajectory. Therefore, he wrote, IFAB had decided that 'if the kick is successful, it is retaken'. If a kick during the game is unsuccessful, the result is an indirect free kick, as it would be for a deliberate second touch, unless the referee decides to play an advantage for the defending team. In a shootout it remains a miss. — AFP
