Added time, injuries and VAR interventions. The new rules for the Serie A league

At the end of the match between Frosinone and Juventus in the first round of the Serie A football season, the shot that hit the crossbar in stoppage time by the Ciociari and Spalletti’s comments about his new striker Kolo Muani not only overshadowed the Bianconeri’s victory, but also pushed the implementation of the new league rules approved by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) into the background. In the first half, around the half-hour mark, Frosinone goalkeeper Lorenzo Palmisani was preparing to clear the ball from the goal line, but after a few seconds he had still not done so. Referee Ayroldi, who had already warned the goalkeeper that there were five seconds remaining of the time allowed for the clearance, then blew his whistle for an offence and awarded a corner to the visitors. And so, from the referee’s count-down to the new approach to injury stoppages and the use of VAR, the start of the football season has seen the introduction of new rules into our league – some of which we had already seen at the World Cup in the USA – aimed at reducing time-wasting and redefining the circumstances in which the Video Assistant Referee is to be used.

The most significant set of changes therefore focuses on penalising players who deliberately delay the restart of play. From now on, players taking throw-ins will have a limited amount of time to do so. When the referee realises that a player is taking longer than necessary to put the ball back into play, they will raise their hand and count down the time with their fingers, indicating that if the throw-in is not taken within five seconds, possession will be awarded to the opposition. And, as we mentioned earlier, the same applies to goal kicks: if the referee notices that the goalkeeper is taking a little too long, he will start counting down the remaining five seconds; at the end of this period, if the ball is still stationary on the edge of the six-yard box, a corner kick will be awarded to the opposition. However, the eight-second rule – which begins when the goalkeeper catches the ball with his hands – remains unchanged.

During substitutions, however, the player being substituted must leave the pitch within ten seconds of his shirt number appearing on the fourth official’s board or of the referee’s whistle confirming the decision. Should he take longer, the player will still leave the pitch, but the substitute will bear the consequences and must wait one minute – during which the match may resume, and in any case must wait for a stoppage – before being allowed to enter. If a player’s injury has led to the match being stopped or the medical staff having to attend to them on the pitch, then the player must leave the pitch and remain off the pitch for at least one minute after play has resumed. Of course, there are some exceptions, such as when the goalkeeper is injured, or when the goalkeeper collides with another player and both require immediate medical attention, or in the event of a serious injury. 

However, the new Serie A rules also expand the role of VAR. Until last season, when a player received a second yellow card resulting in their sending-off – as in the case of last year’s Inter v Juventus match, which sparked considerable controversy – VAR could not intervene; from this Saturday, however, it can: if the Video Assistant Referee considers the second booking to be excessive, the incident can be reviewed on the monitor. However, VAR will also be able to intervene when the referee issues a booking to an innocent player, mistaking them for another, as well as when the referee ‘clearly’ makes a mistake in awarding a corner, provided that the decision can be made quickly and without delaying the restart of play.

The offside rule has also been amended. From now on, in the event of ‘Deny an Obvious Goal-Scoring Opportunity’ – that is, when a player commits a foul that prevents a clear goal-scoring opportunity for the opposition – if the referee applies the advantage and the move results in a goal, then the player who committed the foul will not receive a booking. Furthermore, the new rules also take into account the possibility that, whilst taking a penalty, a player may touch the ball twice. If the ball enters the net, the kick must be retaken; however, if the player misses, play will resume with an indirect free kick. There will also be two further changes. A player may wear accessories, such as bracelets and necklaces, provided they are not dangerous and are adequately covered; however, they must avoid speaking with their hand in front of their mouth. We had already seen during the World Cup the sending-off of the Paraguayan Miguel Almirón for covering his mouth whilst speaking to the Turkish player Mert Müldür. In that case, the World Cup rules stipulated a straight red card, whereas those of our Serie A are more lenient, as it will be up to the referee to assess the situation on a case-by-case basis.