The Sports Guru
Goalkeepers going down injured just before a team talk has become a familiar, and increasingly resented, sight in English football. This article explains the trial designed to end that trick, how the new rule would actually work on the pitch, and why the people running it believe losing a player for a minute is the only deterrent strong enough to matter.
A goalkeeper drops to the turf, the physio trots on, and every outfielder wanders over for a quiet word from the bench. That routine, once an oddity, turned into theatre last season-Leeds United supporters jeered it outright when Manchester City's Gianluigi Donnarumma went down at the Etihad. Starting this campaign, English football intends to make that pause expensive: not just a stoppage, but a missing player for a full sixty seconds.
A trick everyone had clocked
Coaches leaning on goalkeeper treatment for a free tactical break has grown steadily more common, and steadily more resented, over recent seasons. The pattern is familiar: a keeper waves for help, the rest of the side huddles near the technical area, and once the message lands, the goalkeeper springs back up. Sides chasing a way to slow down opponents in the ascendancy have leaned on the same trick. Back in November, Leeds manager Daniel Farke accused Donnarumma of feigning injury to "bend the rules" and break up play.
The mechanics of the trial
Five governing bodies, the FA, Premier League, EFL, National League and Women's Super League, have signed off on the plan, though it still needs the International Football Association Board's blessing before it can be used. Howard Webb's Pro Ref group worked through the options with the leagues and landed on forcing a team to play short-handed. Once a referee waves the physio on for goalkeeper treatment, the manager has ten seconds to name an outfield player who must leave for a minute, passing that choice to the fourth official. If no player has been selected within ten seconds, the captain must leave the field.
Assuming Ifab signs off in time, the trial is due to debut in the Carabao Cup preliminary round meeting of Tranmere and Rochdale on Saturday, 1 August. Australia's A-League, meanwhile, is reportedly preparing a related version in which the captain is always the one who departs.
Why not just clear the technical area?
Ifab weighed a straightforward law change earlier in the year but chose instead to let individual competitions test their own fixes. Pierluigi Collina, the body's head of referees, flagged the goalkeeper timeout as a priority at February's AGM, and by the 2026 World Cup he was instructing his officials to keep players away from the technical area during every stoppage. How well that worked is debatable, since the tournament's built-in three-minute hydration breaks gave teams a ready-made moment for instructions anyway.
English administrators concluded that banning players from the technical area alone would not stop coaches exploiting goalkeeper stoppages. Instead, the trial extends a rule that already applies to outfield players, who must sit out a minute themselves if treated by a physio. Officials will not stop players from talking to a team-mate near the touchline while an injury is treated; the hoped-for disincentive is simply the prospect of playing a man down for a minute. The stakes are highest late in matches, when a leading side might otherwise use a goalkeeper stoppage to run down the clock. Under the new rule, doing so leaves them a player light.
Danny Murphy floated almost this exact solution on Match of the Day last season, arguing lawmakers could move fast to close the loophole. He said "one of the outfield players should go off then it's fair all round" if a keeper needed treatment, calling it a small change capable of making "a world of difference."
Exemptions, and a risk nobody can rule out
The trial carves out several situations where no team-mate needs to leave the pitch: when a goalkeeper insists they are fine and play has not stopped, following a collision with an outfield player, after a foul requiring immediate treatment, in cases of bleeding, or with a serious injury needing substitution or a suspected concussion. One worry raised in discussions is that forcing a player off for a minute might tempt goalkeepers and outfielders alike to shrug off injuries they should not.
Ifab plans to review how the trial performs over the coming seasons, with the possibility of a worldwide law change landing as early as 2027-28. For now, English football's bet is simple: the fastest way to stop a keeper stalling for time is to make someone else foot the bill.
Frequently Asked Questions
It is a trial agreed by English football's governing bodies in which a team must send an outfield player off the pitch for one minute whenever a goalkeeper receives treatment, unless an exemption applies.
The coach has ten seconds to nominate an outfield player to leave for one minute. If no player is chosen in time, the captain must go off instead.
Subject to Ifab clearance, the first match set to feature it is the Carabao Cup preliminary round tie between Tranmere and Rochdale on Saturday, 1 August.
Yes. Exemptions include a goalkeeper declining treatment without stopping play, a collision with an outfield player, an immediate foul injury, bleeding, or a serious injury or concussion.
Ifab will assess the trial's results across upcoming seasons, and this could lead to a permanent global law change from 2027-28.
Research: This article uses the archived evidence supplied for this story. Story inspiration: BBC Sport's original report.