Deciphering the new rules of football Football Suspensions, handballs, substitutions among the areas changed

UEFA have revealed their changes to various rules in football that will come into effect from 25 June, which concern modifications to suspensions, handballs and substitutions among other areas of the game.

That means that the UEFA Nations League, the Under-21 European Championship and the qualifying matches for Euro 2020 will be governed by the previous rules while the new ones will be seen in the Women's World Cup, Copa America and Gold Cup for the first time.

With plenty of confusion over the incoming changes, MARCA has moved to break down the new alterations.

Handball in the area

Goals scored or scoring opportunities created with the use of the hand or arm will be sanctioned even if accidental. The change will favour referees as there will be no interpretation over the incident, reducing controversy.

Less time will be lost to substitutions

The substituted player will not have to leave the pitch where the dugouts are situated. The player will be required to exit the field of play from the touchline which they are closest to at that moment in time.

This revolutionary rule has been implemented to reduce time-wasting by players who opt to leave the pitch slowly or those who seek to get as far away from the dugout as possible ahead of a substitution to have a longer jog off the field.

Modification to goal kicks

Players will no longer have to wait for the ball to leave the penalty area so that another player of the same team can touch the ball, which in most cases, favoured the attacker. From now on, a defender can pick up the ball inside his area to start playing.

Cards for coaching staff

The referees will again be able to issue cards to members of the coaching staff, which means we will not have to wait for the referee's report to know if someone was cautioned. Every five yellow cards will result in a one-match suspension.

An end to the drop ball

The act of kicking the ball away far from where it originally was, or out for a throw-in order to pressure the opponent, after a disputed incident which had to be stopped, has been eliminated. The ball will be dropped to a single player and the game will continue normally, rather than the ball being returned to the opponents.

Walls for freekicks

If the defending team forms a wall of three or more players, opponents must keep a minimum distance of one metre from it. This is to avoid the pushing and shoving between players prior to a direct freekick.