Referees at this year’s Club World Cup will be equipped with body cameras and instructed to implement new rules to cut down on time-wasting by goalkeepers, FIFA announced on Tuesday.
The use of the cameras will be on a trial basis after they were approved last month by IFAB, the sport’s lawmakers.
According to the entity, the use of cameras will be on an experimental basis, after being approved last month by IFAB, the FIFA body that decides the laws of the sport.
In March, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), the game’s law makers, confirmed it approved of FIFA testing the technology in competitions to “identify possible future use and develop quality and safety standards”.
World football’s governing body stated its intention to use body cameras at the Club World Cup as part of live match transmission.
“We think that it is a good chance to offer the viewers a new experience, in terms of images taken from a perspective, from an angle of vision which was never offered before,” said Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the FIFA referees committee.
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“It’s a combination of new experience for broadcasters and also for coaching purposes,” he added.
“Having the possibility to see what the referee sees is important in the debriefing, to evaluate how the call was made by the referee, which was his view, and so on.”
Referee body cameras were first trialled in English grassroots football in 2023 with the aim of improving behaviour and respect from players and supporters towards match officials.
FIFA described the grassroots testing as “successful”, adding the technology “should be further tested and promoted given its positive impact on player behaviour”.
The 32-team competition in the United States will also attempt to crack down on time-wasting by goalkeepers, awarding a corner to the opposing team if they hold on to the ball beyond eight seconds.
The current rule states that ‘keepers are supposed to be sanctioned with an indirect free-kick if they hold on for more than six seconds.
However, the offence is rarely penalised.
In addition to the cameras, FIFA confirmed that it will apply the new rule against the famous “time-wasting” of goalkeepers, awarding a corner kick to the opposing team if they keep the ball for more than eight seconds.
There is already a punishment for this, a direct free kick, but referees rarely punish goalkeepers for “time-wasting”
IFAB confirmed in March that the tweak to the law was set to be introduced from next season. It has already been trialled in youth leagues in England and Italy, and Malta’s top flight this season, with referees using a visual five-second countdown to indicate to goalkeepers that they are on the clock.
The Club World Cup begins on June 14 and runs until July 13.