Blue cards for 10-minute sin-bins set to be introduced under new trials

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Rugby-style sin bins are to trialled at football’s highest level for the first time, with players shown blue cards indicating they must spend 10 minutes in the pitch-side technical area.

The international body which sets out the laws of football is set to publish full details of the trial protocols later on Friday, but it is understood they will include blue cards shown by referees as part of the new trial.

Dissent and tactical fouls, like Giorgio Chiellini’s tug on England’s Bukayo Saka in the Euro 2020 final, will count as blue card offences.

The Football Association is considering the possibility of trialling sin-bins as soon as next season’s men’s and women’s FA Cups, the PA news agency reported. The Daily Telegraph first reported the planned use of blue cards on Thursday.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB), which sets the laws of the game, also supported a proposed trial at its annual business meeting in November whereby only the team captain may approach the referee in certain major game situations.

Board member Mark Bullingham, the chief executive of the FA, said: “When we were looking at sin bins – protocol clearly has to be developed – the areas we were looking at were dissent, where it’s worked very, very well in the grassroots game in England.

“We’ve also spoken about other areas, particularly tactical fouls.

“I think frustration for fans watching games when they see a promising counter-attack that’s ruined by that and the question of whether a yellow card is sufficient for that has led to us looking at whether that should be involved in the protocol as well.

“The starting point was looking at player behaviour and dissent – we’re then looking at whether we should extend it into other areas, such as tactical fouls, as well.”

Sin bins were introduced across all levels of grassroots football from the 2019-20 season in an attempt to to improve levels of respect and fair play in the game.

The rule change was implemented up to step five of the National League system and tier three and below in women’s football.