Referees' chief confirms major World Cup rule change Leeds United will love
Leeds United were left furious by the issue throughout their Premier League season.
World Cup referees will have more powers to combat a growing trend that often frustrated Leeds United during their 2025/26 campaign.
The Whites were often left furious at conveniently-timed injuries to opposition goalkeepers during periods of a game in which they were building momentum. Manchester City’s Gianluigi Donnarumma was the first to irk Daniel Farke and his squad back in November and several others have followed suit.
Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sanchez went down during April’s FA Cup semi-final meeting at Wembley, having been helpfully reminded of his injury by teammate Enzo Fernandez. Blues assistant coach Calum McFarlane then gathered his players while Ethan Ampadu attempted to take matters into his own hands by entering the team talk.
Referees have been powerless to stop such tactics all season in the Premier League, with rules stating they must stop play if a goalkeeper goes down injured and that goalkeeper cannot be sent to the sidelines. That aspect is unlikely to change any time soon but FIFA referees’ chief Pierluigi Collina has revealed players won’t be able to flock to their manager at this summer’s tournament.
He said, as quoted by the BBC: "We had a workshop with all the coaches of all the 48 teams and we told them that referees will be proactive. They will not allow the two teams to go to the benches when a goalkeeper is lying on the ground injured.
“The goalkeeper has the right to be injured, but the players do not have the right to leave the field of play to have a sort of timeout with their respective coaches. It's quite weird that there really is only the referee, the physio and the goalkeeper on the field play. All the other players leave the pitch, and it is not good."
World Cup rule change could be good news for Leeds United
While questions have been asked over the effectiveness of the change - regular water breaks will see players head to dugouts during each half anyway - Leeds will no doubt be glad to see efforts being made to rail against goalkeeper timeouts. The Premier League are yet to make a similar type of announcement but multiple reports over the season have suggested they are looking into it.
Speaking after Sunderland’s Robin Roefs went down at Elland Road in March, former Premier League referee Dermot Gallagher put forward a possible solution. He told Sky Sports’ Ref Watch: “The referee is at the mercy of the player here. He can’t do anything because God forbid, the referee says get up and the goalkeeper is really injured - he’d be in big, big trouble.
“I think what's interesting, one of the leagues are going to experiment next season where if a goalkeeper goes down like that - because it'll be a minute out next year when a player goes off - they are going to have to take an outfield player off for one minute. That would be a good solution.
“It’s bit-by-bit, experiment and see how it works. But I actually think taking an outfield player off for one minute is a good solution. [Deterrent] is the word. Once you’ve got a deterrent, people are less likely to take a chance.”