In addition to the yellow and red card, football referees could also count on a blue card. According to ‘The Telegraph,’ the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the body responsible for defining the rules of the game, is considering testing this new measure against unsporting behavior in matches.
The idea would be that when a player simulates a foul, commits a deliberate foul to stop the game, or shows disrespect to the referee, they receive the blue card and therefore leave the field for 10 minutes. This proposal seeks to impose a greater punishment than the yellow card without having to send a player off, as the red card does. However, two blue cards would result in a player being sent off, just like the combination of a blue card with a yellow one.
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FIFA denies testing the blue card at the professional level
However, FIFA came out to deny part of the report, which claimed that this measure would be implemented as a trial at the professional level next season. According to the governing body, any trial should be conducted at lower levels first.
FIFA wishes to clarify that reports of the so-called 'blue card' at elite levels of football are incorrect and premature.
Any such trials, if implemented, should be limited to testing in a responsible manner at lower levels, a position that FIFA intends to reiterate when this…
— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) February 8, 2024
“FIFA wishes to clarify that reports of the so-called ‘blue card’ at elite levels of football are incorrect and premature. Any such trials, if implemented, should be limited to testing in a responsible manner at lower levels, a position that FIFA intends to reiterate when this agenda item is discussed at the IFAB AGM on 2 March.”
The approval of this new rule will be discussed at the annual IFAB congress mentioned in FIFA’s statement.
