Blue card may be canceled due to negative reaction

Ifab's blue card plan is under threat at Scotland's AGM this weekend

Gianni Infantino gives 'red' card to the blue card», ruining plans for its introduction into football.

The FIFA president signaled the death of the game's first permanent new card in more than half a century by vetoing its use in professional games.

< p>Telegraph Sport's report last month that football's legislature, the International Football Association Council (Ifab), was planning to introduce such a card sparked worldwide panic and fierce opposition from leading Premier League executives.

< p>Speaking after arriving in Loch Lomond ahead of Ifab's annual general meeting on Saturday, Infantino said: “FIFA are completely against blue cards. I was not aware of this topic, the President of FIFA, and I think that FIFA has a say in IFAB. If you want a title, it's a red card to a blue card. Never. We must be serious. We are always open to considering ideas and suggestions. Of course, everything must be treated with respect. But once you look at it, you also have to defend the essence and traditions of the game. There is no blue card.”

Other Ifab board members, who include the heads of the four national associations and FIFA, were also taken aback by the plans to include the blue card as part of the protocols. set by the administration of the legislative body.

Trash bin proceedings are now expected to include a yellow card and a signal from the referee for the player to leave the field.
The blue card has become a lightning rod for growing opposition to bins in football, thanks to the UEFA president. , Aleksandar Čeferin, who told Telegraph Sport in January that he was strongly opposed to the concept.

Ifab has already been forced to abandon plans to include top-level competition in the initial trials, and it may further water down proposals to cynical fouls were part of the protocols for dealing with sins, and instead focus solely on dissent, which he warned against. may be “the cancer that kills football.”

Telegraph Sport also reported concerns about what happens when a goalkeeper goes into the «sin bin» after it emerged it would force teams to choose between placing an outfield player in the team. score a goal or make at least one permanent substitution.

Publication of the new protocols outlining all this was suddenly blocked last month after panic caused — including in football's corridors of power — by the emergence of the blue card plan . .

Other items on the agenda for Ifab's annual general meeting include plans to give referees the power to stop matches for a «cooling-off period» in the event of mass violence.

The length of such periods has not yet been determined for the action, which could result in players being ordered to retreat into their own penalty area.

Other proposals include trying another rugby-style measure that would ban any player other than the team captain. from approaching match officials.