The International Football Association Board (FIFA) adopted 11 new amendments to the Law of the Game, and issued a circular to the civil federations to start implementing them in all competitions that will be organized worldwide.

The most prominent of these amendments concerns touching the ball by hand, which FIFA tried to get out of the controversy of intentionality - a prerequisite for calculating the violation - by setting specific conditions and clearer and stricter criteria for deliberate, and the seriousness of this violation lies in that it is the most controversial violation in calculating penalty kicks.

This amendment may solve the dilemma of deliberateness that sparked controversy in many matches, including the first leg of the African Champions League final between Wydad and Esperance, and resulted in the suspension of the match referee Jihad Greisha for six months.

Among the most prominent criteria for intentional hand touch that the referee must consider as a violation, are: moving the arm or hand in the direction of the ball, or controlling or acquiring the ball after touching the hand or arm, and the law considered recording by hand directly in the opponent’s goal a mistake, even if it was not deliberately.

The amendment also emphasized that a violation would be counted if the ball touched the player’s hand or arm when he placed it abnormally, making his body grow (raising his arms so that it appears larger in body), or raising it at a level higher than his shoulder, except that it bounces from him personally while he plays it to his hand or arm.

Among the amendments is also dropping the ball, which is one of the ways to resume play, as FIFA decided that if the ball was dropped inside the penalty area, it would be with the participation of the goalkeeper of the defending team only, and if it was dropped outside the penalty area, it would be for one player, who is the last to touch the ball before stopping it before judgment.

The new amendments prevented any of the attacking team players from standing with the defenders’ wall closely and clearly when executing free kicks.

FIFA has also acknowledged that the player receives a warning when committing a violation during the celebration of the goal (such as removing the shirt), even if the goal is canceled for any reason.

As for the goal kick, the player was allowed to receive the ball from his colleague goalkeeper inside the penalty area, as this would help speed up the pace of play and reduce lost time.

FIFA changed the system of lottery that the referee conducted before the matches, whereby the team that wins the lottery has the right to choose between taking the kick-off or choosing the goal to attack (previously, whoever wins the toss chooses only the goal that attacks him).

As for substitutions, when a player is changed, he must leave the field from the point closest to his exit from the field so as not to waste time.

The amendments allowed the penalty shooter to obtain treatment or a quick assessment from the medical staff before execution, while not allowing the goalkeeper to touch the crossbar or the net during the execution, with at least part of one of his feet on the goal line when executing the penalty kick.

As for the warnings, if the referee decided to announce a yellow or red card, but the other team created a scoring opportunity, the referee could postpone the announcement of the card until the end of the attack, and previously the referee had to stop the match if he decided to announce the red card.