The International Football Association Board (IFAB) on Saturday approved a marked change in the law that could see goalkeepers concede a corner if they hold the ball for too long.
The law currently forbids goalkeepers from holding onto the ball for longer than six seconds, with the punishment an indirect free kick from where the goalkeeper was stood.
Trials were held throughout the 2024-25 season in Premier League 2 (academies) and in Maltese and Italian football before being appraised at the IFAB meetings at the end of 2025.
Across over 400 games only three corners were awarded due to the goalkeeper holding the ball for too long — 3 in England and 0 in Malta. In Italy a different trial was held which led to the award of a throw, which was penalised once.
The trial proved hugely successful and the law will change across all competitions as of July, for the 2025-26 season.
The amendment means that if a goalkeeper holds the ball for longer than eight seconds (with the referee using a visual five-second countdown), the referee will award a corner kick to the opposing team.
The IFAB explained that referees have become reluctant to enforce the six-second law because a free kick is “too great an advantage, as the chance of scoring is high, whereas they had no possibility of scoring when the offence occurred, as they did not have possession of the ball.
It added that managing a free kick so close to goal is “often extremely difficult, especially if it is to be taken from 9.15m from the goal or closer, when the defenders have to be on the goal line between the goalposts.”
However, the IFAB firmly believes that “a goalkeeper holding the ball for too long is an unfair tactic because the opposing team has no possibility to regain possession, as the goalkeeper cannot be challenged when in control of the ball.”
Studies showed that it takes a goalkeeper less than six seconds to release the ball on a quicker counter attack, six to eight seconds when the goalkeeper attempts to release the ball but is unable to do so for a variety of legitimate reasons and 20 seconds or more when the goalkeeper decides to waste time, often unnecessarily falling to the ground and staying there before slowly standing up.
The IFAB’s football and technical advisory panels discussed a number of options when it met towards the end of 2023, and last March approved a trial to increase the time to eight seconds with specific protocol for enforcing it.
It believes that systematic enforcement coupled with a restart that results in the goalkeeper (and their team) losing possession without giving the opposing team too big a benefit, could be effective in eliminating this offence or reducing its frequency.
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