Refs to show blue cards as football trials sin-bin

A blue card is to be introduced to football as part of sin-bin trials.

The game’s law-making body, the International Football Association Board (Ifab), has signed off on the first new card to be used in the sport since the advent of yellow and red cards at the 1970 World Cup.

The revolutionary move will see players removed from the field for 10 minutes if they commit a cynical foul or show dissent towards a match official.

The Football Association of Wales had planned to use a blue card during a sin-bin trial in grassroots competitions this season, with the colour chosen over the likes of orange in order to differentiate it clearly from a yellow or red card. But the FAW failed to obtain clearance for the move and players sent to the sin-bin have been shown a yellow card instead.

The new protocol will limit the blue card to fouls that prevent a promising attack, or dissent. A player will be shown a red card if they receive two blue cards during a match, or a combination of yellow and blue.

Top-tier competitions will be excluded from initial testing in the professional game in case the protocols require further refinement, but elite trials could still begin as soon as this year. That may include in the FA Cup and Women’s FA Cup, with the Football Association considering volunteering next season’s competitions for testing.

But sin-bins will not be used in this year’s European Championships or next season’s Champions League after Uefa president Aleksander Ceferin said last month he was opposed to them, adding: “It’s not football any more.”

But the European governing body could be forced to introduce them if, as expected, trials lead to them being added to the laws of the game.

Ifab first agreed in November to test the rugby-style measure in elite competitions such as the Premier League.