June 7 – In a move that will surely be applauded by all advocates of fair play, accidental handball by a forward in the build-up to a goal will not be penalised at Euro 2020.
Changes to the handball law were made in March by the International Football Association Board, football’s law makers.
They are scheduled to come into force worldwide on July 1 but UEFA’s referees’ chief Roberto Rosetti says they are being brought forward in time for Friday’s open Euro fixture.
“The way the law has been rewritten is more according to the spirit of football and gives players the freedom to play football,” the Italian said.
And on the subject of offside, Rosetti said there must be “clear evidence” before VAR disallows a goal because of some miniscule marginal infraction.
“A few months ago Pep Guardiola said ‘I can accept a mistake made by the referee on the field of play, I cannot accept a mistake made by the VAR in front of the video’. This is true. He’s right,” Rosetti said.
“We cannot disallow the goal for offside if we have no evidence it is offside.
We want clear evidence to disallow goals – that’s it. For factual decisions we want interventions just if it’s clear.”
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