Football rules may be major changes: penalty shots will be banned, VAR covers corner kicks and yellow cards?

Football, a 134-year-old sport, is facing a major change that could overturn traditions. A number of new proposals are being studied and discussed by the International Football Association Council (IFAB), the highest rule-making body of football, including: canceling penalty shots and expanding the range of VAR intervention to corner kicks and the second yellow card.

The penalty kick will "decide the winner with one blow", and the supplementary shot may be cancelled

According to the latest news, starting from the 2026 World Cup, the execution method of the penalty kick may usher in revolutionary changes. If this rule is passed, there will be no chance of resuming the penalty in the future, but will be directly driven by the defense. This means that the penalty kick will become a real "one chance".

People who support the reform of the rule believe that the current penalty system has given the offensive side an excessive advantage. For example, handball or foul in the penalty area often prevents not a 100% chance to score, but the probability of the penalty kick itself is extremely high. If supplemental shots are allowed, it will be an "extra" scoring opportunity, which is not fair to the defense.

In addition, the proposal also helps to completely resolve the controversy caused by "players entering the penalty area early". Once a free throw is allowed only one shot, even if a player enters the penalty area early, it will not affect the result and fundamentally eliminate controversy. After modification, iconic moments such as Harry Kane's goal to break Denmark for England in the 2020 European Cup semi-finals will no longer exist. If this rule takes effect, it will completely change the fate of some classic goals in the past. For example:

In the 2020 European Cup semi-finals, Harry Kane faced Danish goalkeeper Schmeichel's penalty kick and scored after being saved. If the new regulations are followed, it will no longer be effective.

In the 2005 Champions League final, Xavi Alonso's equalizer goal after being saved by Duda and shot into the net will also be invalid.

VAR may expand the scope, and corner kicks and yellow cards will also be intervened.

Video referees can even interfere with the second yellow card In addition to changes in the penalty system, IFAB is also actively discussing whether to expand the scope of application of VAR. Currently, VAR is mainly used in four categories: goals, penalty kicks, red cards and identity errors. But in the future, it may add:

the second yellow card (the cumulative two yellows turn red): VAR will be able to intervene to determine whether the yellow card is reasonable to avoid unfair "error punishment".

Corner Punishment: If there is an "obvious misjudgment", VAR may intervene in correction.

In fact, the relevant discussion was proposed as early as the IFAB annual meeting at the end of 2023. But at that time, it was temporarily shelved due to concerns about increasing the game time and affecting the fluency. During the recent Club World Cup held in the United States, the issue was once again raised by high-level officials and received wider attention and support.

IFAB emphasizes that if you want to expand the scope of application of VAR, the premise is that "no additional delays are caused", that is, the judgment must be completed quickly within a few seconds, otherwise it will not be adopted.

"Offside" and "goalkeeper's ball time" are also under reform. In addition, IFAB is also continuing to promote other rules optimization:

Offside rule reform: The "Tortoise Offside" plan proposed by Arsena Wenger has entered the experimental stage. That is, VAR and the lineman only refer to whether the torso (the body part) is offside, while ignoring the details of feet, head, etc., making offside penalty more fault-tolerant, which is close to the "amateur competition" penalty method.

The new rules for goalkeeper possessing the ball for 8 seconds: It will be implemented from June 1, 2025, including the referee's 5-second countdown, and has been used in the U21 European Cup and Club World Cup.

New explanation of "double touch" for penalty kicks: For example, the penalty kick that Julian Alvarez lost in the Champions League against Real Madrid was once sentenced to invalid due to an accidental double touch. The new regulations will be changed to "heavy punishment if the goal is scored", rather than being cancelled directly.

Conclusion: The tug-of-war between tradition and fairness, where will football go?

These major reforms that may be implemented will be finalized before the 2026 World Cup. Time is tight, but the momentum of reform has become stronger and stronger.

On the one hand, the reform aims to improve the fairness and viewing of the game and ensure that the game is more in line with the expectations of modern fans to watch the game; on the other hand, it has also caused concerns about tradition - if even penalty shots are cancelled, some "famous scenes" of football will no longer be possible.

Do you think these reforms are progress in football or divergence from tradition? Welcome to leave a message for discussion.