What changed in the laws of the game for 2026/27, and what did not

The Laws of the Game 2026/27 took effect on 1 July 2026, so this is the first full season under them. They are a substantial set of changes, mostly aimed at time-wasting, and a few of them will change what a match looks like more than the summaries suggest.

One thing first, because it is the most commonly misattributed rule in football right now.

The goalkeeper rule is not new

A goalkeeper who controls the ball with their hands for more than eight seconds concedes a corner kick, taken on the side of the field closest to where they were penalised, with the referee counting down the last five seconds with a raised hand. There is no card unless the goalkeeper keeps doing it.

That rule came in on 1 July 2025. It belongs to the 2025/26 laws, not this season's, and it replaced the old indirect free kick after six seconds. The only thing 2026/27 did was add a cross-reference in Law 17 listing it among the ways a corner is awarded. If you see it described as one of this season's changes, that is wrong.

The genuinely new part: two more countdowns

The same countdown device has now been extended to two other restarts, and this is the change most likely to be visible on a Saturday afternoon.

Throw-ins. If a player is unfairly delaying their team's throw-in, the referee whistles, signals, and counts down five seconds with a raised hand. If the throw has not been taken by the end of it, it is awarded to the opposing team, taken from the same position. The delaying player is cautioned only if they then excessively delay the restart.

Goal kicks. The same five-second countdown applies, but the sanction is harsher: a corner kick to the opposing team, taken on the side closest to where the goal kick would have been.

Both are mandatory everywhere, and both come with a new protocol and, for throw-ins, a new referee signal. The reasoning is consistent throughout this set of changes: losing the restart is considered punishment enough, and a caution is reserved for extreme cases.

Video review covers three more things

The list of reviewable incidents has gone from four categories to five, and two of the three additions apply wherever video review is used at all.

• A red card from a clearly incorrect second yellow. Previously only a direct red card could be reviewed, which meant a player sent off for a second caution that plainly was not a foul had no route back. That is now reviewable.
• Mistaken identity. If the referee cautions or sends off the wrong player, that can be reviewed. The wording was widened this season so it covers the wrong player from either team, not just the offending one. Only the identity of the offender can be reviewed, not whether the offence happened.
• A clearly incorrectly awarded corner kick, and this one is different. It is a competition option, meaning each competition decides whether to use it, and it only applies where the decision can be corrected immediately without delaying the restart. If the corner is taken quickly, it stands.

The jewellery ban is gone

Law 4 used to list the jewellery a player could not wear. That list has been deleted. The rule now reads that accessories are permitted as long as they are not dangerous and are safely and securely covered, and that dangerous items must be removed rather than taped over.

The stated reason is worth repeating, because it is unusually candid: the old ban created confrontation, was applied inconsistently, and ignored the cultural, religious, medical and personal reasons people wear things.

Time limits on injuries and substitutions

Two changes attack the same problem from different directions.

An injured player whose treatment stops play, or delays the restart, must now leave the field and can only return one minute after play has restarted. Goalkeepers are exempt, and so is a player hurt by a foul for which the opponent was cautioned or sent off.

A player being substituted has ten seconds to get off the field from the moment the board goes up. Miss it and play restarts without the substitute, who can then only come on with the referee's permission at the first stoppage after a minute has elapsed. The substitution cannot be cancelled and a different substitute cannot be sent on instead.

Seven players, and walking off in protest

A match cannot start or continue with fewer than seven players on a side, which is long-standing. What is new is the consequence: in principle, a team responsible for a match being abandoned because it has fewer than seven players forfeits that match, subject to the competition's own rules.

Alongside it sit two sending-off offences that are competition options rather than universal law. One covers leaving the field of play in protest at a referee's decision, and instructing or encouraging others to do so, which applies to team officials as well as players. The other covers covering your mouth when speaking to an opponent in a provocative, derisory or inflammatory way, introduced to stop players hiding abuse from detection.

What is optional, and what is not

This distinction gets lost constantly, so it is worth stating plainly. Only four things in the 2026/27 changes are competition options, meaning a league can take them or leave them:

1. Body cameras for referees, assistant referees and fourth officials, where the competition supplies the cameras and controls the footage.
2. Video review of a clearly incorrectly awarded corner kick.
3. The sending-off offence for covering the mouth.
4. The sending-off offences for leaving the field in protest.

Everything else described above is mandatory. Whether any particular league has adopted the four options is a separate question, decided competition by competition.

A few smaller ones

Senior international friendlies may now use eight substitutes rather than six, and up to eleven if both teams agree and tell the referee beforehand. A player who denies a goalscoring opportunity is not cautioned if the referee plays advantage and the other team scores anyway. A dropped ball now goes to the team that would have kept or won possession, including when the ball would have gone out of play. And an accidental double touch at a penalty now means a retake if the ball goes in, and an indirect free kick to the defending team if it does not.

One more piece of housekeeping, since it is often reported early: the "only the captain" protocol, which restricts who may approach the referee, does not become compulsory until 1 July 2027.

Sources: IFAB law changes 2026/27, IFAB Circular 32, IFAB Circular 33, IFAB law changes 2025/26, The FA on the 2026/27 changes.