02 March 2024 , 08:48
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FIFA president Gianni Infantino has emphatically ruled out the prospect of blue cards.
The cards were set to be the signal which would be used by referees to show that a player had been temporarily dismissed in sin bin trials. Those protocols were due for publication on February 9, and had been signed off at a board meeting of the game’s lawmaking body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB).
However IFAB pulled the plug on publishing after news of the blue cards leaked, to a less than stellar reaction. They were heavily criticised and IFAB cited the need for further talks at the organisation’s annual general meeting this weekend in Loch Lomond, while FIFA distanced themselves saying they would never be tested at the game’s elite level - certainly not in its initial stages.
Now, on the eve of Saturday’s meeting, Infantino went into bat himself.
He announced: “There will not be any blue cards used at elite level. This is a topic that is non-existent for us.
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“FIFA is completely opposed to blue cards. I was not aware of this topic. I’m the president of FIFA, and I think FIFA has a say in the IFAB. So, I don’t know if you want the title, ‘It’s red card to the blue card’!
“Every proposal and every idea has to be treated with respect, of course. But, once you look at it, you also have to protect the game, the essence of the game, the tradition of the game, and there is no blue card.”
Further details relating to blue cards and sin bins have emerged (Getty)The introduction of a blue card at the level initially envisaged in the trial would have been the biggest single change in the management of player discipline since the introduction of red and yellow cards at the 1970 World Cup.
The trial of sin bins will continue to be tested at much lower levels. The Football Association, one of the five bodies which makes up the IFAB, had been understood to have been interested in running a trial in the men’s and women’s FA Cups in the future, before the furore around blue cards.
The trial will also require a new signal to be used instead of the blue card. In grassroots football, referees show a yellow card and point to the touchline.
There are also set to be further talks on Saturday about whether any sin bin trial should include tactical fouls, as well as dissent. Also under the original protocol, all players on the pitch, including goalkeepers, could be temporarily dismissed.
The management of head injuries is also on the AGM agenda.
The World Leagues Forum and world players’ union FIFPRO have again written to the IFAB asking for permission to trial temporary concussion substitutes, something which was again rejected at last year’s AGM in London.
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