La Liga will introduce stricter measures against time-wasting and deliberate stoppages this season, including penalties for players who take too long to leave the pitch and goalkeepers who fake injuries.
The changes form part of a wider effort by Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees to increase effective playing time and make matches faster and more fluid. Some of the measures have already been used at the World Cup, while others will be applied in Spain with certain differences.
The main focus for referees will be preventing players from deliberately disrupting the flow of matches. A source from the Technical Committee of Referees told Spanish newspaper Marca: “Everyone hopes common sense will prevail in order to apply the new rules.”
One of the situations that will face closer scrutiny is a substitute delaying their departure from the field.
If a player takes more than 10 seconds to leave after being replaced, the incoming player will not be allowed to enter immediately. Instead, they must wait until the first stoppage in play after one full minute of effective playing time has passed.
Different procedures will apply when a player is suspected of exaggerating or pretending to be injured. The player will be required to leave the field and cannot return until one minute has elapsed from the next stoppage in play. The match will not need to be stopped again specifically to allow that player to come back on.
Referees will also pay particular attention to goalkeepers who deliberately claim to be injured in an attempt to stop the game and run down the clock.
If the referee decides that the injury is not genuine and that the stoppage was intentional and unnecessary, the coach will have to select one of their players to leave the pitch within 10 seconds.
Should that instruction not be followed, the team captain will be the player required to leave.
The committee says referees may begin a 10-second countdown when they have indications that a team or player is deliberately attempting to waste time. The relevant sanctions and procedures can then be applied under the new rules.
However, Spain’s Technical Committee of Referees has decided not to adopt another measure that has caused controversy in recent months. The proposal would allow players to be sent off for covering their mouths while speaking to opponents, a measure referred to in the media as the “Vinicius law”.
The International Football Association Board (IFAB) rules allow each competition to decide whether to implement the provision. Spanish referees have chosen not to introduce it in domestic competitions.
Committee officials said: “For us, covering the mouth will not be a red card. We do not know what the player said to their opponent, and we believe sending them off would be unfair and excessive.”
The measures will therefore place greater responsibility on players, coaches and referees to prevent avoidable delays, while Spain has rejected the most contentious punishment linked to conversations between opponents.
