Khaberni - Media reports confirmed that the Arab Football Cup will witness a revolutionary decision that will be implemented for the first time in the history of football.
Sada newspaper reported that the refereeing file in the 2025 Arab Cup, which will kick off in Qatar in December (December) next, has seen a significant development after the announcement by the head of the referees' committee at the International Football Federation, Pierluigi Collina, of adopting a new mechanism for dealing with injuries on the field, in a step aimed at reducing time-wasting and increasing the pace of play during matches.
It explained: "The new rule stipulates that any player who sustains an injury that requires medical team intervention must leave the field mandatorily for two minutes, during which his team will play short-handed."
It added: "This measure excludes the goalkeeper, as well as cases where the injured player is involved in contact that resulted in a yellow or red card against the opponent, where he is allowed to remain on the field without being subjected to the exclusion period."
It continued: "This approach is part of a series of experiments being conducted by the International Federation to speed up the pace of matches and reduce unnecessary stoppages, after the refereeing committees noticed an increase in treatment times on the field and their impact on the pace of play and the rhythm of the tournaments."
Collina confirmed that the implementation of this law in the Arab Cup will serve as a practical test before considering its generalization to other tournaments, noting that the main goal is to protect competitive fairness and ensure that no team benefits from medical stoppages to waste time or break the rhythm of the match.
The participating teams are awaiting further details from the organizing committee on the precise implementation mechanisms, with expectations that the new law will spark extensive debate among technical staff, especially given its direct impact on the dynamics of play and match management.
