The new laws for the 2020-21 season have been released

The law changes for the 202021 season are not nearly as drastic as the ones introduced before last season.

There have been attempts to give clarity to the handball and offside regulations, but otherwise it’s just a bit of tinkering with the current laws.

VAR, which has added controversy rather than clarity to football, also gets a mention, but sadly it remains in place for next season.

HANDBALL

IFAB (International Football Association Board) have sought to clarify where on the arm constitutes a handball and what is deserving of a handball offence.

Basically anything below the armpit is a handball and if an attacking player accidentally touches the ball with their hand/arm and it leads to the ball going to a teammate who immediately scores, it is deemed a handball which is the case now.

But if a player accidentally touches the ball with their hand/arm and it travels ‘some distance’ (via a pass/dribble) or there are several passes before a goal or goal-scoring opportunity, it is not deemed to be handball.

YELLOW CARDS

Players can now be shown a yellow card for ‘failing to respect the required distance’ when play is restarted with a dropped ball, the same as with a throw-in, corner or free-kick.’

Goalkeepers can now be shown a yellow or red card if they have deliberately played the ball a second time after a restart, such as a goal kick or free kick, before it has touched another player.

If a goalkeeper stops a promising attack or denies a goal-scoring opportunity while doing it they will be cautioned or sent off.

ADVANTAGE

When a referee plays advantage following the denial of a goal-scoring opportunity, the red card becomes a yellow card. Likewise, if the referee plays advantage for an offence which interfered with or stopped a promising attack, the yellow card is not shown.

OFFSIDE

An amendment has been made to the offside law regarding a player receiving the ball in an offside position following a deliberate action from an opponent.

Previously, a player in the offside position is not deemed to have gained an advantage when receiving a pass or header from an opponent. The law now includes deliberate handball.

The IFAB note says: ‘As ‘legal’ deliberate play (eg a kick or header) causes a player in an offside position to no longer be offside, ‘illegal’ play should have the same outcome.’

A ‘deliberate save’ landing at the feet of a player in an offside position will see the player flagged as offside.

PENALTY KICK

If a goalkeeper commits an offence during a penalty kick and the kick is missed (not saved – ie goes wide or hits the woodwork) it won’t have to be retaken.

The penalty would only be retaken if the goalkeeper’s action ‘had a clear impact on the kicker’.

If the penalty is saved by the goalkeeper they are warned and it is retaken. VAR The laws of the game now state that it is appropriate for an ‘on-field review’ for all subjective decisions, such as intensity of a foul and offside interference.

For factual decisions – offside, location, ball out of play – it is advised that in some cases an ‘on-field review’ is appropriate if it will help manage players/managers/the match to ‘sell’ the decision.

In addition, only one ‘TV signal’ is needed for a ‘VARonly review’ (unless a signal is also required after stopping play).