Law 3 – The Players • Clarification relating to extra person(s) on the field of play when a goal is scored
Law 6 – The Other Match Officials • Reserve assistant referee (RAR) now permitted to assist the referee in the same way as the other ‘on-field’ match officials
Law 7 – The Duration of the Match • ‘Goal celebrations’ to become a separate bullet point in the list of causes of time lost for which the referee makes allowance
Law 10 – Determining the Outcome of a Match • The term ‘kicks from the penalty mark’ to be replaced by ‘penalties (penalty shoot-out)’ Updated 17 April 2023 Law changes 2023/24 • Clarification that warnings and cautions for team officials, as well as for players, are not carried forward into penalties (penalty shoot-out)
Law 11 – Offside • Clarification of guidelines to distinguish between ‘deliberate play’ and ‘deflection’, as outlined in circular 26 (July 2022)
Law 12 – Fouls and Misconduct • Clarification that if the referee awards a penalty kick for an offence which involved a defending team player challenging an opponent for the ball (excluding holding, pulling, pushing, no possibility to play the ball etc.), the same sanction should be issued to the player as for an attempt to play the ball, i.e. if the offence stops or interferes with a promising attack – no caution (no yellow card); DOGSO offence – caution (yellow card)
Law 3 – The Players • The temporary amendment giving ‘top’ competitions the option of allowing teams to use up to five substitutes (with limited substitution opportunities) becomes part of Law 3
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• Competition rules may now allow a maximum of fifteen substitutes to be named
Law 8 – The Start and Restart of Play • Clarification that the referee tosses the coin to determine the ‘ends’ and kick-off
Law 10 – Determining the Outcome of a Match • Clarification that a team official may be cautioned or sent off during kicks from the penalty mark
Law 12 – Fouls and Misconduct Law changes 2022/23 • Clarification about handball offences by the goalkeeper in their own penalty area
Law 12 – Fouls and Misconduct • Clarification about the position of a free kick awarded when a player leaves the field of play without the referee’s permission and then commits an offence against an outside agent
Law 14 – The Penalty Kick • Clarification about the position of the goalkeeper before and when a penalty kick is taken
Changes affecting more than one Law
Notes on the Laws of the Game (all Laws) – metric units • Clarification that, if there is any divergence between metric and imperial units, the metric units are authoritative
Laws 4, 5, 12 and VAR protocol – non-violent inappropriate behaviour • To allow some non-violent inappropriate behaviour to be considered ‘offensive, insulting or abusive’ and result in a sending-off, ‘action(s)/acting’ replace ‘gesture(s)/gesturing’ in the relevant descriptions
Laws 1, 2 and 4 – FIFA Quality Programme • Information about the FIFA Quality Programme is now included after the VAR protocol – details have been removed from the Law text
Law changes Individual Law changes (in Law order) :
Law 1 – The Field of Play • The goalposts and crossbar (and goals) must be the same shape • The GLT signal can be sent to the video operation room (VOR)
Law 6 – The Other Match Officials • There is now a FIFA list of international video match officials (VMOs)
Law 7 – The Duration of the Match • Stoppage time relates to ‘lost’ playing time
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Law 11 – Offside • Inclusion of the Law 12 definition of where the arm ends (bottom of the armpit) for the purposes of determining an offside/onside position
Law 12 – Fouls and Misconduct •Handball:
• Not every contact of the ball with the hand/arm is an offence
• A player’s hand/arm position should be judged in relation to their body movement in that particular situation
• Removal from the accidental attacking handball offence of the references to a ‘team-mate’ and ‘creating a goal-scoring opportunity’
• The offence of using a ‘trick’ to circumvent the Law against the goalkeeper handling the ball from a deliberate kick from a team-mate applies at goal kicks; the instigator is to be cautioned (YC)
• A free kick/penalty kick can only be awarded for an offence against someone on the team lists or a match official
VAR protocol
• Written permission to use VARs is only required from FIFA
• Principles have been established covering scenarios when a video match official or replay operator is unable to start or continue a match