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Blue Cards to be Introduced in Football

Football
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The International Football Association Board (IFAB) will be introducing the blue cards in football; the blue card as part of the sin-bin will used by the referees to send players off the match for 10 minutes for dissent or cynical fouls. More so, two blue cards would amount to players' dismissal for the rest of the game, as well as a blue and yellow card. However, FIFA called blue cards in elite football "premature" and said, "any trials, if implemented, should be limited to testing in a responsible manner at lower levels". Meanwhile, sin-bins will not be used in this summer’s European Championship or next season’s Champions League after UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin, last month said he was not in support adding that “It’s not football anymore.”

UEFA nevertheless could be forced to introduce them if, after trials, they are being added to the laws of the game. IFAB is expected to approve the trials at its annual meeting in March.

The body has been looking at ways of improving player behavior on the pitch, while also seeking to find a balance for incidents that do not match the threshold for a red card but warrant more than a yellow card.

If the blue card gets introduced, it would be the first change to on-field punishments since red and yellow cards were introduced at the 1970 World Cup.

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