Over the years, there have been many new rules added to change the face of football.

VAR technology or semi-automatic offside detection helps referees have a more accurate perspective and make more reasonable decisions. A proposal to penalize green cards for intentional fouls when counter-attacking is also being considered. Now, a new regulation on goalkeepers holding the ball for too long may also be applied soon.

Over the years, many spectators and experts have complained that goalkeepers often hold the ball for too long, especially at the end of the match to buy time. Although they will be given a yellow card if they hesitate to put the ball in play, there are no specific rules restricting goalkeepers from such behavior.

Most recently, The Guardian reported that the International Football Association Board (Ifab) announced a number of new tests during their recent annual general meeting in Loch Lomond. In particular, they will set a regulation for the goalkeeper’s holding time of the ball to be about 8 seconds.

This time will be counted from the time the goalkeeper takes action to retrieve the ball. When there are 5 seconds left, the referee will raise one hand and start the countdown, also signaling the goalkeeper to put the ball into play as soon as possible.

Several penalties will be considered if goalkeepers violate this rule. In particular, a throw-in at the sideline with the 11m mark or a corner kick is being considered. Previously, holding the ball for too long could result in an indirect free kick in the penalty area, but this rarely happened and the goalkeeper usually only received a yellow card.

However, there are still situations where goals are scored from such indirect free kicks. Alan Shearer, the legendary striker of the Premier League, scored 1 goal against West Brom in 2002 in a similar situation.

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