Article by Maria Olteanu – Published Tuesday, February 24, 2026, 10:59 / Updated Tuesday, February 24, 2026 10:59
A proposal from FIFA is aimed at players receiving medical treatment for an injury who could be forced to stay off the field for one minute after the doctors intervene.
This is one of the measures aimed at combating interruptions of rhythm and loss of effective playing time, a decision that would be approved on Saturday, during the annual general meeting of the International Football Association Board (IFAB), according to bbc.com.
Currently, the regulation does not specify a mandatory length of time that injured players must spend on the sidelines after receiving treatment. However, this detail would change in the near future.
FIFA proposes that injured players sit off the pitch for one minute
Currently, each league has the right to set its own rules regarding time off the field for injured players. In the future, the time would be identical regardless of the championship. For example, the Premier League has adopted a 30-second rule from the 2023-2024 competitive season.
FIFA already tested a similar variant of this rule at the Arab Cup in December, where a player had to stay off the pitch for two minutes after receiving medical attention.
FIFA's head of referees, Pierluigi Collina, claims the two-minute rule is aimed at reducing time-outs and improving the flow of the game.
The approach is similar to that of Major League Soccer, where the rule is activated if a player remains on the ground for more than 15 seconds and medical staff enter the field.
At an IFAB meeting in January it was agreed that a fixed period should be added to the regulation, but there were still disagreements over the duration, with the two-minute proposal meeting strong opposition.
There are, however, concerns about unintended consequences
In the context where two minutes is considered too long, the one-minute duration has been proposed as a compromise, but according to the quoted source there are still concerns about the negative impact of this rule.
Last season, Manchester United were unhappy when Matthijs de Ligt was forced off the pitch with a cut and Brentford scored from a corner while he was on the sidelines.
The fear is that a minute's absence would greatly increase the likelihood of a team conceding a goal in the period in which they are outnumbered.
Even the 30-second rule is already causing frustration among supporters, and unintended consequences, such as goals conceded right in that inferiority window, could add further pressure on referees.
There would also be some exceptions to the rule
However, the new rule would not be applied uniformly, there are also a number of exceptions. If the opponent receives a yellow or red card for a foul, the player injured as a result of that foul must not leave the field. Goalkeepers are also exempt from the rule, and a penalty taker could remain on the pitch.
However, the IFAB is not expected to pass a resolution to tackle the “tactical timeout”, when a goalkeeper feigns injury to allow the coach to give new instructions to the team. IFAB's advisory committees have discussed the issue at length, but so far no solution has been reached.
A similar process will be added for goal kicks and throw-ins, with possession being relinquished to the opponent if the execution takes too long.
A 10-second time limit will also apply to substituted players if they do not leave the court in time and the substitute will not be allowed to enter. The team should play with 10 men until the next stoppage of play, which must take place after at least 60 seconds.
The IFAB is also expected to approve the use of video refereeing (VAR) to review wrongly awarded second yellow cards and, optionally for competitions, in the case of corners.
