[Locke]

New Rules! Everyone's favourite!

1. The war on holding on corners and set pieces

Throughout the second half of last season, players holding an opponent inside the penalty area seemed to be on the increase -- and now it will be an area of focus for referees in 2025-26.

The considerations:

- Sustained holding. If the holding is fleeting, there may be no impact on the opponent

- Impact on an opponent's ability to play or challenge for the ball

- A clear non-footballing action where the offending player has no interest in playing the ball

- Mutual holding by both players usually will not be penalised

There's also going to be a focus on simulation

2. Goalkeeper holding the ball for too long = corner

We know the situation. A shot comes in or a corner is floated over, and the goalkeeper first flops on the ground for 10 seconds, or longer. Then he stands up, surveys his options, and looks around. Maybe then he'll release the ball, only after some 30 seconds have been lost. Spread that across a game, and it can have a real effect on a match.

It's been a bugbear of supporters for quite a while. Most often used by away teams trying to protect a lead in a difficult match, it has evolved somewhat to become part of a team's tactics simply to frustrate the opposition.

3. What about VAR?

The Premier League will continue to apply a high threshold on VAR interventions, underpinned by "referee's call," with 83% in support of it in the Premier League's football stakeholder survey of coaches, captains, ex-players and supporters.

VAR errors last season fell to 18 (from 31 in 2023-24) though fan perception probably doesn't match that.

Semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) will be in place from round one, which should help to reduce delays. Last season, the average VAR delay per match fell from 64 seconds to 39 seconds.

The SAOT replays will now be showed on the big screens inside grounds, along with disallowed goals.

4. Handball penalties

Last season the Premier League only saw nine penalties awarded for handball -- by far the lowest number across the top leagues in Europe.

https://www.espn.com/soccer/story/_/...refcam-holding

Theres a bunch more but I cant post that much of an article so go have a look!