Football’s lawmakers have agreed that the rule on handball needs to be rewritten to avoid punishment for incidents when it has happened accidentally.

Telegraph Sport revealed earlier this month that the International FA Board (Ifab) was to discuss rewriting the rule to remove the word “deliberate” as part of a raft other measures.

At its annual business meeting in Glasgow Ifab said the issue of handball was “debated at length” with a “more precise and detailed wording for the different types of handball offences” needed and with an emphasis on “non-deliberate” handballs. Ifab has agreed that the rules of the game have to be clearer.

“The most significant clarifications relate to ‘non-deliberate’ handball situations, where there is an unfair ‘outcome/benefit’ due to the ball making contact with a player’s hand/arm,” it said.

There is a constant debate over what is considered deliberate handball with penalties often awarded when the ball hits a defender’s hand at point-blank range.

It appears that the change would remove the word “deliberately” and define handball as to do with the hand or arm being in an unnatural position at the point of contact. There has to be agreement as to what constitutes an unnatural position.