Referees set to award corner kick if Goalkeepers hold the ball for more than 8 seconds

A proposed regulation that would give the opposition a corner if a goalie keeps the ball for an excessive period is one of the daring new methods being considered by football lawmakers to tackle time-wasting. According to a proposed regulation, goalkeepers who hang onto the ball for over eight seconds might be penalized by a corner kick that goes to the opposition. 

This idea, which has already been tried in Malta and the English Premier League Under-21 tournament, attempts to speed up play and deter time wastage. Referees indicate a five-second countdown during the trial whenever a goalie approaches the eight-second limit. A corner is given if the ball is not released in time.

In contrast to the existing regulation, which permits referees to award an indirect free kick, this approach does away with defensive formations, which cuts down on delays and boosts the penalty's deterrent power.

The encouraging outcomes were emphasized by Patrick Nelson, the chief executive of the Irish FA and a member of the International Football Association Board (IFAB). He said, “The data that’s coming out of it so far is very, very interesting, in that the two trials so far have been that if the goalkeeper is holding on to the ball too long, the referee will award a corner.”

“Speeding up the goalkeepers letting go of the ball” : Patrick Nelson

He added, “The instances of corners being awarded are almost non-existent, which would indicate to us, certainly looking at the data, that the deterrent is exactly what we would want it to be at this point, and it’s speeding up the goalkeepers letting go of the ball and bringing it back into play.”

During the testing, Malta's goalkeepers controlled the ball 796 times without once going above the limit, Nelson said. It seems that goalie behavior is successfully changed by the dread of giving up a throw-in or corner. The subsequent testing ground will be the Under-20 league in Italy. Italy will employ a throw-in as the penalty rather than a corner, which is seen to be a less effective deterrence than the Malta experiment.