A blue card is set to be introduced in professional football as part of sin-bin trials, marking the first new colour of card widely used in 50 years.
According to The Telegraph, the revolutionary move will be announced by International Football Association Board on Friday as part of new measures that will see players removed from play for 10 minutes if they commit a cynical foul or show dissent towards a match official.
The protocols will add a new wrinkle to dismissals as players would now be sent off if they receive two blue cards in a game or a combination of a blue and a yellow.
DAILY GIST gathered from the said report that elite trials could begin as soon as the summer, though top-tier competition will be excluded from initial testing.
As a result, FA Cup and Women’s FA Cup matches may be included in trials, with the FA reportedly considering volunteering next season’s competitions for testing.
Top-tier competitions will be excluded from initial testing in the professional game in case the protocols require further refinement, but elite trials could still begin as soon as the summer.
That may include in the FA Cup and Women’s FA Cup, with the Football Association considering volunteering next season’s competitions for testing.
But sin-bins will not be used in this summer’s European Championship or next term’s Champions League after the president of Uefa, Aleksander Ceferin, told Telegraph Sport last month he was completely opposed to them, adding: “It’s not football anymore.”
The European governing body nevertheless could be forced to introduce them if, as expected, trials lead to them being added to the laws of the game
