Report: Football lawmakers consider trialling kick-ins to replace throw-ins

Football’s lawmakers have considered using kick-ins as a replacement for throw-ins as a way of speeding up the game, according to The Athletic. 

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) held its annual general meeting in Doha, Qatar on Monday where the proposal of trialling kick-ins was discussed. 

The board announced that talks were in progress about testing the proposed change at matches in the near future, which would see kick-ins replace throw-ins in the defensive half of play, if taken within five seconds of the ball going out.

A statement from IFAB read: “Other trials such as explaining certain refereeing decisions during a game, a potentially fairer calculation of playing time, and kick-ins were also discussed. 

“The AGM was clear that these and any other trials require permission and will be supervised by the IFAB and FIFA.”

It comes after former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, now FIFA’s chief of Global Football Development, suggested using kick-ins over throw-ins in 2020 to reduce time-wasting (L’Equipe). 

Meanwhile, the meeting also saw IFAB announce the permanent introduction for leagues to have the option of allowing five substitutes from the 2022-23 season. 

Alongside increasing the number of substitutes that can be named from 12 to 15, trials regarding the explanation of refereeing decisions and an alteration of the traditional 90-minute clock were also discussed. 

Spurs Web Opinion 

This is an interesting suggestion as time-wasting has always been a big talking point in terms of managing football matches. Kick-ins could make the game flow a bit better, but again they are likely to be used in a way that the clock can be run down. 

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