IFAB Quashes Rumours Of Introducing

By Max Wise

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) will not introduce a ‘Kepa’ law which will compel referees to force players off the field when they are substituted, according to its technical director David Elleray.

IFAB, which is the body responsible for determining the laws of association football, recently made some changes in the rules, including the clarification of handball situations.

The amended rules take effect from next season, but a so-called ‘Kepa’ law will not be one of them.
Chelsea goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga recently caused a stir in the Carabao cup final when he refused to be substituted.

Officiating official, John Moss, was powerless to haul him off the field because the rules state that the game goes on when a player refuses to be changed.

Elleray believes that such a law will not be introduced because teams will take advantage to waste time.

"The laws of the game are not there to settle disputes between players and coaches," the former Premier League referee confirmed, speaking in Aberdeen at the annual Ifab conference, as quoted by The Telegraph.

"The law exists to say 'okay if the player won't go off, you just get on with the game'. It can't become a tactic whereby, if the referee is forced to get involved and the player still won't leave the pitch, do you abandon the game?

"Might teams use it as a tactic, say if the other team was playing well, to fabricate an argument for two or three minutes to put teams off their stride? If you want to make a substitution and they don't want to go off, it has to be a problem for that team's coach.