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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, although the English and Scottish FAs have confirmed their competitions will adopt the changes from next season.
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.
FIFA to test Wenger’s offside proposal
FIFA president Gianni Infantino also confirmed IFAB will be looking to conduct trials over a new interpretation of the offside rule proposed by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger.
Wenger, now FIFA’s Chief of Global Football Development, wants to introduce fresh criteria whereby if any part of an attacker’s body is onside, he will be deemed as being onside.
“We will test a potential change to the offside law,” Infantino said. “Our aim as IFAB is always to see if we can make football more attractive, without changing its nature.
“We have seen, maybe, we can think about a new law which allows a bit more attack in football. Arsene Wenger presented to us this morning what this could look like.”
Infantino highlighted research presented by the Premier League where, if Wenger’s interpretation would be applied, an average of two out of four offsides per game would not be judged as offsides.
IFAB have yet to provide further details on trial dates and countries to be involved but confirmed to Sky Sports News that FIFA is planning on testing the proposals on a smaller scale first.
“It’s not a preferred solution, but a possible solution. It’s an interesting idea which will be looked at carefully,” said David Elleray, IFAB technical director.
