The International Football Board (IFAB) have suspended the caution rule against goalkeepers when they infringe on the laws in the process of a penalty, after FIFA submitted a request for a temporary dispensation during the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.

The dispensation comes after Nigeria’s goalkeeper Chiamaka Nnadozie was cautioned after stepping off the line before a kick awarded to France was taken. The Law currently states, “if the goalkeeper commits an offence and, as a result, the kick is retaken, the goalkeeper must be cautioned”.

In a statement released on IFAB’s official website, the rules regulating body gave reasons for the temporary dispensation;

– the presence of VARs acts as a far greater deterrent than the caution

– the presence of VARs greatly increases the likelihood of any offence being detected and, as goalkeepers are likely to face a number of kicks during KFPM, there is a higher risk that a goalkeeper will be sent off for receiving a second caution if already cautioned in normal time, or two cautions during the KFPM

– unlike during ‘normal time’, when a sent-off goalkeeper can usually be ‘replaced’ by the team substituting an outfield player for a specialist reserve goalkeeper, substitutions are not allowed in KFPM so an outfield player would have to become the goalkeeper

The dispensation comes after Nigeria lost by a lone goal to France from a retaken penalty in their final Group A match, which was widely adjudged by fans and pundits as an unfair call against the Super Falcons.