FIFA is considering making radical changes to the football rules in the near future and is testing five major changes to how the game is played in a youth tournament called the Future of Football Cup.
Four under-19 teams, PSV Eindhoven, AZ Alkmaar, RB Leipzig and Club Brugge are competing in the revolutionary tournament, and FIFA is willing to evaluate the response and reaction to the changes made, to decide whether to implement them at all levels.
And Mundo Deportivo has revealed that these changes that are being tested can completely turn the sport upside down. FIFA President Gianni Infantino wants to shorten matches, stop the clock when the ball goes out of play, allow unlimited substitutions, create sin baskets for yellow cards and throw with his feet.
Here are the potential rule changes in more detail.
No more 90-minute matches / PETER POWELL / Getty Images
The first change proposed is the length of football matches. Real Madrid president Florentino Perez has already expressed his unfounded concern that the younger generation is losing interest in football matches, and he believes that the matches should be shorter.
FIFA seems to agree to have tested two halves in 30 minutes of action, resulting in an hour-long match instead of the traditional one and a half hour.
The injury time would no longer exist / Catherine Ivill / Getty Images
FIFA is also considering getting rid of the damage and instead replacing it with a stopped clock system. It means the clock would stop every time the ball went out of play, instead of adding minutes at the end of the match.
This would be used to try to combat waste of time, and it would create an exact 30-minute half football.
Unlimited number of subs / Stuart Franklin / Getty Images
Another change that FIFA is considering is the use of substitutions. Due to the impact of the coronavirus outbreak on the fixture list and subsequent player exhaustion, teams now have to make five changes per game in some countries, with a potential sixth change if the match goes to extra time.
FIFA plans to abolish a cap on substitutions, so coaches can do it make an unlimited number of changes for 60 minutes.
Yellow Card Sin Boxes / LAURENCE GRIFFITHS / Getty Images
FIFA is also considering the sin-bin system, which is used in other sports such as rugby. If these changes came into place, players would get one five minutes temporary suspension from the plan when it is handed over a yellow card.
The player would be forced to look away from the side for five minutes before returning to the action when the penalty ended.
Hand throws would be abolished / CATHERINE IVILL / Getty Images
One change that Arsene Wenger has been keen on for some time is the removal of throws from our sport. Now he is part of FIFA, that idea is being tested. Players in the youth competition are now takes dead balls from touchline with their feet, rather than the standard throw with your hands.
bad news for Liverpool’s famous throwing coach Thomas Gronnemark.
If introduced into our game, these changes would revolutionize the sport at all levels.
