New Rules To Be Experimented In World Cup

The forthcoming FIFA U’17 World Cup in India will see 3 new rules being used on an experimental basis during the tournament. A total of 24 teams will be competing in the tournament in six groups of 4 teams each. The tournament will kick start on October 6 in Delhi while the final will be played at the Salt Lake Stadium on October 28. The following rules will be as follows:

1. i) At goal kicks and when the defending team has a free kick in their penalty area, the ball will be in play when it is kicked and moved, i.e. there will be no requirement for the ball to leave the penalty area before the defenders can play it – this is to encourage a faster and potentially more constructive restart of play.
2. ii) Referee can immediately flash a red card or a yellow card at anyone in the reserve bench during the course of a match. Previously the on field umpire communicated with the fourth official to remove someone in the reserve bench if he is found guilty of any offence.

iii) A substituted player will be required to leave the field at the nearest point on the touchline or goal line (to reduce the time lost/”wasted” by the player walking slowly to the halfway line). It has been noted that the suspended players deliberately wasted time by walking all across to come out of the turf.

The six groups are as follows:-

Group A: India, United States, Colombia and Ghana.

Group B: Paraguay, Mali, New Zealand and Turkey.

Group C: Iran, Guinea, Germany and Costa Rica.

Group D: North Korea, Niger, Brazil and Spain.

Group E: Honduras, Japan, New Caledonia and France.

Group F: Iraq, Mexico, Chile and England.