Top football bodies yet to decide on future trials of blue cards

“FIFA to announce a New rule ‘Blue Card’ in Football Tommorow (sic),” reads a post published on Facebook on February 8, 2024. 

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Screenshot showing the misleading post, taken on February 13, 2024

The post has since attracted more than 1,200 likes.

The same claim was also shared elsewhere on Facebook, including here and here.

It started circulating after international sports media including the UK-based Mirror reported on February 8, 2024, that IFAB was about to announce the introduction of blue cards, which would mean 10-minute sin bins for dissent and certain fouls (archived here).

What’s a blue card?

At the moment, football referees use yellow cards as a first warning for misconduct or fouls and red ones to expel someone for the rest of the match.

In the sin-bin scenario, a player receiving a blue card must leave the pitch and remain in a designated area for 10 minutes.  

The rule is aimed at improving on-pitch behaviour and fair play.

Grassroots football in England has been trialling the blue card since the 2019-20 season (archived here). 

However, managers from top Premier League clubs like Liverpool and Arsenal have expressed reservations about the sin-bin approach (archived here). 

Source of confusion

In November 2023, IFAB announced on its website that “temporary dismissals (sin bins) for dissent and specific tactical offences should be trialled at higher levels, following their successful implementation in grassroots football. Protocols and a system for trialling will now be developed” (archived here).

This was followed in early February by media reports about the system’s impending implementation and IFAB’s alleged U-turn amid the backlash from top-tier clubs (archived here).

In response, FIFA issued a statement saying that the reports had been “premature”.

“FIFA wishes to clarify that reports of the so-called ‘blue card’ at elite levels of football are incorrect and premature,” said the global football governing body on its X account on February 9 (archived here).

It added that “any such trials, if implemented, should be limited to testing in a responsible manner at lower levels, a position that FIFA intends to reiterate” at the IFAB’s annual general meeting on March 1, 2024. 

Unlike some of the social media claims, IFAB and not FIFA, is the body charged with implementing or enforcing decisions such as the blue card (archived here).