2026 World Cup Kicks Off With New Rules

Published: April 13, 2026

With the 2026 FIFA World Cup around the corner, the IFAB (International Football Association Board) has announced that there will be new rule changes, kicking off on June 11th. These rule changes consist of countdowns for goal kicks and throw-ins, substitution time limit, altered injury protocols, and VAR developments. These rules were put in place with the hopes of reducing time wasting and making it so that the game will flow more quickly. With time wasting impacting every game from each top league, like the Premier League, the IFAB has intentionally added these rules ahead of the World Cup to discourage players and managers from utilizing these tactics to slow down games and to keep fans more engaged. 

Goal Kicks and Throw-Ins: Starting off with throw-ins, if the ball hasn’t entered play by the time the countdown has concluded, then the throw-in will be reversed and given to the opposing team. As for goal kicks, if the keeper hasn’t gotten rid of the ball, then a corner kick will be rewarded to the other team. Both goal kicks and throw-ins will have a five second count until said team loses possession and is given to the opposing team. In the Premier League, this sort of situation has already taken place for goal keepers where if they hold the ball for eight seconds, then a corner kick is given to the opposing team. This rule has helped speed up play within the Premier League and will hopefully do the same by the start of World Cup matches. 

Substitution Time Limit: Sticking with the objective of reducing time wasting, the newest rule to be added was a time limit for substitutions. If a player is being subbed off, they are now given 10 seconds to leave the field once the substitution board is shown. Failure to do so, will result in the player coming on the field having to wait an entire minute of running clock before they can come onto the pitch. Even after the minute has passed, the player will have to wait until the next stoppage of play before they are allowed to be subbed on. 

Altered Injury Protocols: If a player needs on field treatment from the medical staff, they will now also have to wait a minute of running clock before coming back into the game. However, if a player that went down on the pitch requiring medical treatment was harmed/injured by a foul resulting in a yellow or red card from the opponent, then they don’t have to leave the pitch at all. Currently, in the Premier League, players that are faced with the situation of on-field medical treatment only need to be off the field for 30 seconds. Previously, when a player would go down needing medical treatment, oftentimes it was used as a way to slow play down and draw-out more time. With the new changes to the injury protocol, the hope is to reduce or discourage the amount of players feigning injuries. 

VAR (Video Assistant Referee) Development: Although VAR is looked at unfavorably from time-to-time, it isn’t going anywhere. One of the biggest changes to VAR at the upcoming World Cup is that it will now be able to intervene with a player being shown an incorrect second yellow card. In the past, if a player were to be double-booked and sent off with a red card, that was it and VAR wasn’t allowed to interfere. Moving forward, another change is that VAR can now intervene if a referee penalizes the wrong player or team in a reward of a yellow or red card.