Leeds United, Sheffield Wednesday and Sunderland impacted by major EFL law changes

The EFL are to introduce changes to time-keeping during Leeds United’s Championship fixtures during the upcoming season.

The Whites are currently putting the finishing touches to their preparations for the new campaign as they look to bounce back from relegation from the Premier League at the first attempt. Their competitive action for the season gets underway on Sunday week when Cardiff City are the visitors to Elland Road - and that fixture will be the first to be subject to new law changes.

In a lengthy statement released on Friday, the EFL have revealed they will ‘adopt a new approach’ to time-keeping during fixtures and stressed they are ‘committed to ensure a more accurate calculation of additional time’.

As part of a bid to improve the amount of time the ball is in-play, the exact time lost during goals and celebrations, substitutions, injuries and treatment time, penalties and red cards will all be added on. That is a change from previous seasons when the policy was to add on what the EFL call ‘a nominal period of time’.

The statement also confirmed a ‘multi-ball system’ will be utilised and match officials will take ‘a more robust approach’ by showing yellow cards to players who use clear and deliberate actions to delay the restart of play. The changes will bring the EFL in line with recent changes from the International Football Association Board (IFAB) and will see fixtures subject to the same time-keeping that was utilised during the World Cup in Qatar last year.

Other changes to be implemented will include injured players must be treated off the pitch and will not be permitted to return until a period no less than 30 seconds. A number of special circumstances, including injuries to goalkeepers, players from the same time requiring treatment and a severe injury will be taken into consideration.

A ‘high threshold’ for fouls will be used as officials will ‘not award a foul for all contact yet penalising when contact has a detrimental impact on an opponent’ in a bid to keep the game flowing and there will be a strong crackdown on ‘participant behaviour when it falls below expected standards on-field and in the technical area’.