Blue card arrives, a genuine revolution for football
Could the blue card soon be officially used in football? According to The Telegraph, IFAB will launch its use this Friday
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The announcement landed like a bombshell. According to English outlet The Telegraph, IFAB, the body that governs the laws of the game, wants to introduce the blue card. The outlet adds that IFAB will make the announcement this Friday, 09 February. The news has prompted strong reactions. But what is the blue card and what will it be used for?
IFAB would like this blue card to be shown to a player who commits a cynical foul that stops an attack. IFAB took as its textbook example Chiellini's shirt-pull on Saka in the Euro 2020 final as he was racing towards the Italian goal. A player who protests to a match official would also receive the same sanction. What's more, the player shown the card would have to leave the pitch for 10 minutes, leaving his team-mates down to 10 for that period. And to top it all off, two blue cards would equal a red card, meaning a permanent sending-off.
Ceferin rules out the blue card
As a reminder, yellow and red cards have existed since the 1970 World Cup and have not changed since. The blue card would therefore be a genuine revolution in the game if it were widely adopted. It should be noted, however, that UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin is against it. "That's not football," he said, as reported by The Telegraph. In England, the Football Association wants it trialled from next season in the men's and women's FA Cup. Will this rule, inspired by rugby union, catch on in football?
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