Laws of the Game 2019/20

The Laws of the Game 2019/20 come into force 1 June 2019. A number of changes were approved at the 133rd Annual General Meeting of The IFAB on 2 March this year including:

• The introduction of yellow and red cards for misconduct by team officials
• A player being substituted having to leave the field of play at the nearest point on the boundary line
• At a goal kick and a free kick for the defending team in their own penalty area, the ball is in play once it is kicked, i.e. it does not have to leave the penalty area
• Clearer wording for ‘handball’
• Attacking team players must be at least 1m away from a ‘defensive wall’
• The goalkeeper only has to have one foot on the goal line at a penalty kick
• A new dropped ball procedure

The summary and details of all Law changes can be found here.

The full Laws of the Game 2019/20 are available here for download and are also available as a web version in the ‘Laws’ section on our website: theifab.com

Using the 2019/20 Laws

The Laws of the Game 2019/20 are compulsory for friendly matches and competitions which start on or after 1 June 2019. However, competitions which started before 1 June 2019 (including on-going multi-year competitions, qualification matches and final tournaments) may implement the Laws earlier or delay their use until no later than the start of the next competition.

New Laws of the Game app

The IFAB is also launching the very first official mobile application for iOS and Android devices for better and quicker accessibility to the Laws ‘on the go’ by everyone: referees, coaches, players, media and the fans. The new App allows the user to

access the Laws of the Game (also offline)
see all recent changes (with explanations)
compare this year’s Laws with previous years
add personal notes and comments, and create ‘favorite’ chapters