What is the eight-second goalkeeper rule?

Following successful trials, football will introduce an eight-second rule applying to goalkeepers in a bid to reduce time-wasting beginning in the 2025/26 season.

The current rule, when correctly enforced, awards an indirect free-kick to the opposing team if a goalkeeper holds on to the ball for more than six seconds. But for a number of reasons, the rule is almost never enforced, prompting a change to the laws.

It is thought that by extending the time limit from six seconds to eight, the more egregious offences will be easier to spot and less controversial to penalise, with the punishment also changing from an indirect free-kick to a corner.

The new rule has been trialled in Premier League 2 games as well as fixtures in Italy and Malta and the International Football Association Board (IFAB) said that in the hundreds of games where the rule was in place, only four goalkeepers were penalised, speeding up the game as intended.

To make goalkeepers more aware of how long they've got to release the ball, the referee will raise their hand in the air to count down the final five seconds.

Liam Williams

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