The hands, to debate

This Wednesday is key to the future of drafting the rule of hands. For that day he summoned the International Board (THEIFAB), football’s highest body responsible for changing the rules of the game, its first meeting in the year 2023. An important appointment where possible changes to Rule 12 of the hands will be addressed. More so now that in our league there is so much controversy and where the Villarreal – Real Madrid of the last day was the most obvious case and produced many reactions. To the point that the president of the arbitration body, Luis Medina Cantalejo, acknowledged on Tuesday from Saudi Arabia that the current norm is somewhat Machiavellian.

So, this coming Wednesday when will this annual meeting take place and whose agenda has been accessed World of sports. The first thing planned is a review of the changes to the Rules introduced on July 1, 2022, corresponding to the latest update of the rules of the game.

The second point of the day will be devoted to the Laws of the Game that will be in effect for the next 2023-2024 season. Within the clarification of proposals and changes, it is planned to address Rule 11 of Offside. In particular, the clarification of deliberate play that was introduced last July and allows for the clarification of plays such as Kilian Mbappé’s goal in the Nations League final against Spain. At this point it is expected that other possible changes will be addressed in addition to the clarifications. And here we can talk about the issue of hands.

In addition to the development of VAR This is another of the issues for debate and another of the things that the Barça coach defends Xavi Hernandez about wasting time. TheIFAB studies measures to increase net playing time and reduce time loss.

Respect for match officials, players and team officials or all issues arising from concussion and head injuries are also set to be discussed on the agenda. So we’ll see what comes out of this meeting and to what extent it influences the hand rule change. This is what he says now:

Rule 12. Fouls and Misconduct

Hands:

“To clearly identify the violations in each hand, the upper limit of the arm corresponds to the lower point of the armpit, as illustrated in the graph.

Not all contact with the ball with the hand or arm is a foul.

The player who:

voluntarily touches the ball with the hand or arm, for example by moving in the direction of the ball with these parts of the body;

touches the ball with the hand or arm when the hand or arm is positioned unnaturally and causes the body to have more space. A player shall be deemed to have unnaturally placed his body in more space when the position of his hand or arm is not a consequence of the movement of his body in that particular action or cannot be accommodated by such movement. By placing his hand or arm in such a position, the player risks the ball hitting that part of his body and this constitutes an offence;

I scored a goal in the opponent’s goal:

directly with the hand or arm -even if the action happens accidentally-, with the goalkeeper;

immediately after the ball touches his hand or arm, even accidentally.

The goalkeeper is subject to the same restrictions as any other player regarding handling the ball outside his own penalty area. If the goalkeeper touches the ball with his hand in his penalty area without being authorized to do so, an indirect free kick is awarded, but there is no disciplinary penalty. However, if the offense consists of playing the ball a second time (with the arm or hand or other part of the body) after the replay and before another player touches it, the goalkeeper is penalized if the offense delays a promising attack, avoiding a goal or a clear chance of the opposing team.”