VAR may be given powers to rule on corners and second yellow cards

Football’s lawmakers may consider increasing VAR’s powers to cover corner kicks and second yellow cards before next year’s World Cup.

The International Football Association Board (Ifab), which oversees the Laws of the Game, could also be asked to look at a radical change to penalties in which the ball is declared “dead” if the goalkeeper saves the kick, and therefore a goal cannot be scored from a follow-up.

Discussions over changes to the rules around the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) have already taken place at senior levels of football but would need to be signed off at the Ifab annual meeting next March. Any law changes would come into force from June 1, in time for the 2026 men’s World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada.

It is understood there is considerable support for VAR being able to intervene in fact-based decisions, such as overturning the call when a corner has been wrongly awarded if the ball touches an attacking player, not the defender, last.

Allowing VARs to intervene for second yellow cards is seen as more controversial, as it is usually a subjective decision, and Ifab has been very reluctant in the past to extend the powers to cover bookings. However, supporters of the change believe that because a red card due to a second caution is often a match-affecting decision, VAR should have the power to get involved in that too.

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Ifab board members would want to be convinced that any extension of VAR powers would not lead to an increase in delays, and that any new decisions would have to be taken by video officials in a matter of seconds.

The idea of changing the law around penalty kicks would be even more radical as it would mean a penalty-taker or their team-mates would not have a second chance if the goalkeeper saves the spot kick.

Harry Kane saw his penalty saved but scored from the rebound for England against Denmark at Euro 2020 — such a goal may be disallowed if proposals are approved LAURENCE GRIFFITHS/POOL/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Discussions are also understood to have taken place on this issue, with proponents suggesting the team awarded a penalty already have enough of an advantage, and it would also avoid the problem of other players encroaching into the area before the kick is taken.

Ifab is usually a conservative body, which tries to avoid any law change that results in unintended consequences, but it has shown itself open to making significant decisions in the recent past, not least with VAR.

Any changes to the VAR rules would not need to be trialled; but it is likely Ifab would want to see the results of lengthy trials of any change to penalty kicks before altering the Laws of the Game.

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The usual process for rule changes is that proposals to go to Ifab’s annual business meeting in November and are then voted on at the AGM in March. However, at this year’s Ifab AGM, lawmakers agreed to a Fifa proposal for a law change in which goalkeepers concede a corner instead of an indirect free kick if they hold on to the ball for more than eight seconds.

Talks on expanding the scope of VAR interventions did take place at Ifab’s business meeting in 2023 in London but no decisions were taken at the time. It is now likely that some more formal proposals will be put to the body before next year’s AGM.

Ifab is made up of the four British FAs, which have one vote each, and Fifa, which has four votes. Any change to the Laws of the Game needs at least six of the eight votes to be passed.

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