Overview

• PGMOL has instructed officials to penalise sustained or impactful grappling in the penalty area under criteria covering duration, effect on an opponent’s movement and non-footballing actions.
• VAR will keep a high intervention threshold, intervening only for clear, extreme holding offences and to confirm or overturn penalty awards.
• An eight-second goalkeeper rule will award a corner to opponents when keepers exceed possession limits after securing the ball.
• Only team captains may approach match officials on decisions, with unauthorised protests drawing yellow cards, and accidental double touches on spot kicks that score must now be retaken.
• Semi-automated offside technology will be fully deployed, VAR verdicts will be announced over stadium speakers and match officials will trial body-mounted cameras early in the season.