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English football to introduce ridiculous new ‘time-wasting’ rule as part of trial next season

Published 16:30 27 Jul 2026 BST

Updated 16:31 27 Jul 2026 BST

JOE
English football to introduce ridiculous new ‘time-wasting’ rule as part of trial next season

Homesport

The Football Association, Premier League, English Football League, National League and Women's Super League have all agreed on the trial.

English football is set to introduce a trial in order to eradicate goalkeeping tactical timeouts, as per BBC Sport.

The Football Association, Premier League, English Football League, National League and Women's Super League have all united on the measure and now need permission from the International Football Association Board (Ifab).

Only earlier this year, Ifab opted against changing the law, instead inviting leagues to volunteer for trials.

Pro Ref, led through chief refereeing officer Howard Webb, has since been in discussions with the leagues to determine how the rising issue can be tackled.

Resultantly, they settled on a team having to remove an outfield player from the field.

If a referee signals that the physio can come on to treat a goalkeeper, the coach will then have 10 seconds to make a decision on another player to leave the pitch for one minute, telling the fourth official of the choice made.

If no player has been selected within 10 seconds, the captain must automatically leave the field.

If clearance is received by the Ifab in time, the first game that the trial will used will be the Carabao Cup preliminary round tie between Tranmere and Rochdale on Saturday, 1 August.