All about blue cards that are being considered in football

The International Football Association Board (IFAB), football’s law-making body, is set to send the players to the sin-bin and issue the much-awaited blue cards, although it will be on the trial level. The new method is unique and different from the usual yellow and red cards that were used for the first time at the 1970 FIFA World Cup in Mexico.

At grassroots levels, sin bins have been used for dissent and shortly could be introduced to the higher level to counter cynical fouls such as a player taking down an opponent during a counterattack.

Sin bins were brought to the fore in 2018-19. As a result, the English Football Association reported a 38% total reduction in dissent across 31 leagues.

Shortly, it expanded to all levels of grassroots football from the 2019-20 season to improve the level of respect and fair play.

The regulation was subsequently applied to step five of the National League system and tiers three and lower in women’s football.

As per reports, a player would spend 10 minutes on the sidelines after he’s given a blue card by the referee. While there are talks of trials, it is uncertain when they begin and at which leagues/levels.

England’s Premier League has already ruled itself out of the initial roll-out of any trial. Tackling rumours, football’s world governing body FIFA said “reports of the so-called ‘blue card’ at elite levels of football are incorrect and premature”.

The brief statement further said, “Any such trials, if implemented, should be limited to testing in a responsible manner at lower levels, a position that FIFA intends to reiterate when this agenda item is discussed at the IFAB AGM on 2 March.”

Notably, IFAB will hold its annual meeting in Scotland in March where sin-bin trials at higher levels is listed as a topic for discussion.

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