Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) has rebuff reports circulating on the proposals to hand referees blue cards in a move that would allow match officials to sin-bin players, Owosports.com.ng reports.
Current rules allow referees to hand out a yellow card as a warning, with two yellow cards equating to a red card, sending the player off.
According to reports, Referees will have a new tool at their disposal to combat dissent
A move which suggests that the International Football Association Board will now partake in sin-bin trials, with a blue card resulting in a player being removed from play for ten minutes.
This punishment would come into effect if a player was to commit a cynical foul or show dissent towards a match official.
Similar to a yellow card, the new rules would see two blue cards equal a red card, with a combination of a blue and a yellow card also seeing a player sent off.
However, FIFA have since poured cold water on any chance of seeing blue cards at a high level in football, with only trial periods being strictly allowed.
FIFA in it statement reads: “FIFA wishes to clarify that reports of the so-called ‘blue card’ at elite levels of football are incorrect and premature.
“Any such trials, if implemented, should be limited to testing in a responsible manner at lower levels, a position that FIFA intends to reiterate when this agenda item is discussed at the IFAB AGM on 1 March.”
Trials of the new punishment could begin as early as this summer, with FA Cup and Women’s FA Cup matches a potential platform for blue cards to be used.
