Soccer Rule Changes for 2026/27: What the IFAB Changed and Why

The 2026/27 Laws of the Game, in force from 1 July 2026, are mostly about the clock. The International Football Association Board (IFAB), which writes the rules of soccer (association football), gave substituted players ten seconds to leave the pitch, put a five-second countdown on throw-ins and goal kicks, and required most players who receive on-field treatment to leave the pitch for a minute after the restart. It also let the video assistant referee (VAR) correct two more kinds of error, wrote a forfeit principle into the Laws for teams that cause a match to be abandoned, and gave competitions two optional new red cards.

Competitions that began before 1 July 2026 could adopt the changes early, according to the IFAB's announcement of the edition. Everything below is checked against the IFAB's own 2026/27 Law changes page, and anything that is a trial or a competition option rather than a Law binding every match is labelled as such.

How the changes were decided

The IFAB's change page marks the April items "Additional change - approved on 28 April 2026".

The change log at a glance

Three countdowns aimed at time-wasting

The IFAB described the February package as measures "designed to enhance match tempo and reduce time-wasting".

Ten seconds to leave when substituted

Under the time-limited substitution protocol, the count starts when the substitution board is shown, or at the referee's signal where there is no board, and the player leaves at the nearest point on the boundary line unless told otherwise. When several changes happen in one stoppage, everyone coming off has ten seconds from the last one.

Miss the limit and the player must still go, but play restarts without the substitute, who may enter only at the first stoppage after one minute of running clock. The substitution cannot be cancelled or switched. A caution follows only if the delay is excessive, and the referee may disapply the limit when injury or safety prevents a quick exit.

A worked example, with assumed circumstances: a team leading 1–0 makes a late change, and the player being replaced strolls from the middle of the pitch towards the halfway line. Ten seconds pass, play restarts, and the leading team defends with ten for at least a minute and until the next stoppage after it. The seconds the walk was meant to burn are paid for in numbers.

Five seconds at throw-ins and goal kicks

Under the countdown protocol, a referee who judges that a throw-in or goal kick is being deliberately delayed whistles, signals for the restart and counts five seconds down with a raised hand. If the ball is not in play at the end, the throw-in passes to the opponents from the same spot, and a delayed goal kick becomes a corner kick for them on the nearer side. The count can start before anyone has the ball — slow retrieval or a wrongly placed ball is enough.

This extends the 2025/26 change under which a goalkeeper who holds the ball for more than eight seconds concedes a corner kick, replacing the indirect free kick previously given after six seconds, as the IFAB's 2025 announcement explains.

Because the punishment is now possession, three delaying offences were struck from Law 12's caution list, including delaying leaving the field when being substituted. The IFAB judged the new sanctions "sufficient punishment unless the action of the player(s) causing the delay is extreme". Excessive delay is still a caution.

One minute off after treatment

Law 5 now says that a player who is assessed or treated on the pitch, or whose injury stops play, must leave and may return only one minute after the restart, on a running clock. The off-field treatment protocol gives two purposes: time for medical staff to evaluate the injury away from play, and less disruption to the tempo of the match.

The exceptions are listed: an injured goalkeeper; a goalkeeper and an outfield player who collide; team-mates who collide; a severe injury, especially a head injury, cardiac issue or life-threatening event; an injury caused by a physical offence for which the opponent is cautioned or sent off; and an injured player who will take a penalty kick just awarded. This is a procedure for referees, not health guidance — that stays with medical staff.

Walk-offs, forfeits and two optional red cards

Law 3 already said a match may not start or continue if either team has fewer than seven players. The 2026/27 text adds that a team responsible for a match not continuing, or being abandoned, for that reason will in principle forfeit, "subject to the relevant competition regulations", and Law 7 repeats the principle for abandoned matches. Temporary dismissals and the one-minute periods above do not count against the seven. How a forfeit is recorded is for each competition; how soccer league tables work covers the standings side.

The April meeting added two red cards that a competition may choose to use: one for covering the mouth when communicating with an opponent "in a provocative, derisory or inflammatory manner or situation", and one for leaving the field in protest at a referee's decision — or instructing or encouraging others to do so, which can send off a team official even if no player leaves. The stated reasons are a strong deterrent against walk-offs and the intention "to combat racism and discrimination". Whether either applies depends on the competition's regulations.