The International Football Association Board (IFAB) has announced the handball law will be changed from July 1.
The decision was reached at the AGM of football’s lawmakers on Friday following a season of confusion and VAR controversy.
The main change to the law, which will come into effect on July 1, is that accidental handball that leads to a team-mate scoring a goal or having a goal-scoring opportunity will no longer be considered an offence.
This amendment means Fulham’s disallowed goal against Tottenham on Thursday night when Josh Maja’s effort was ruled out when the ball hit the hand of team-mate Mario Lemina from a Davinson Sanchez clearance would have stood
Lawmakers ruled that not every touch of a player’s hand or arm with the ball is an offence. In terms of the issue of the hand or arm making a player’s body “unnaturally bigger”, it was confirmed that referees should continue to use their judgment in determining the validity of the hand or arm’s position in relation to the player’s movement in that specific situation.
Following this clarification it was decided that it is a handball if a player deliberately touches the ball with their hand, for example moving the hand towards the ball, or touches the ball with the hand or arm after making their body unnaturally bigger.
IFAB says competitions will retain the flexibility to introduce changes prior to the July 1 date.
The new handball law in full
It is a handball offence if a player:
- deliberately touches the ball with their hand/arm, for example moving the hand/arm towards the ball;
- touches the ball with their hand/arm when it has made their body unnaturally bigger. A player is considered to have made their body unnaturally bigger when the position of their hand/arm is not a consequence of, or justifiable by, the player’s body movement for that specific situation. By having their hand/arm in such a position, the player takes a risk of their hand/arm being hit by the ball and being penalised; or
- scores in the opponents’ goal:
- – directly from their hand/arm, even if accidental, including by the goalkeeper; or
- – immediately after the ball has touched their hand/arm, even if accidental.
Accidental handball that leads to a team-mate scoring a goal or having a goal-scoring opportunity will no longer be considered an offence.
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Scott Parker bemoans the lack of ‘common sense’ in the game after VAR ruled out Fulham’s equaliser against Tottenham.
What else is on the agenda at the IFAB AGM?
Also discussed at the virtual meeting were the ongoing trials over concussion substitutes. It was confirmed the decision to launch the concussion substitute trials was based on the strong recommendation of the Concussion Expert Group which consists of leading medical and football experts who closely examined the applicability of best practice in other sports to football.
The offside law was also discussed by football’s lawmakers on Friday
The members also received updates from FIFA on potential adaptions to the offside law and the latest developments concerning innovations related to video assistant referees (VARs) that could enable competitions with more limited budgets to use VAR technology.
