Will a new blue card be introduced in football alongside the yellow and red cards? A corresponding report is causing a stir. Now the world association is speaking out.
The world football association Fifa has described a media report about the decision to introduce a blue card as “wrong and premature”. “If such experiments are carried out, they should be limited to responsible testing at lower levels,” FIFA said on Thursday evening. The British newspaper “The Telegraph” had previously reported that the International Football Association Board (Ifab) had approved the test introduction of the new blue card.
This means that a ten-minute time penalty will be imposed on players if, for example, they have prevented a clear scoring opportunity by committing a minor foul or verbally attacking officials. As the paper goes on to write, citing Ifab, two blue cards should lead to a red card just as much as a blue card and a yellow card.
The first tests could be carried out from the summer, but not in the top leagues. The English Football Association is considering making the FA Cup and the women’s cup competition available on a voluntary basis. If the blue card is introduced into football regulations, it would be the first new card since yellow and red were introduced at the 1970 World Cup.
There has been a blue card in handball since 2016. This is shown in order to make it immediately clear to everyone involved after a red card whether an additional report will follow, which will then result in a decision by the disciplinary committee.