The English Premier League has rolled out new rules for the 2024/25 season, which kicks off on Friday, August 16, 2024, with Manchester United playing Fulham in the first match.
According to an official statement on the EPL website, several key changes will affect how match officials enforce the rules. The major updates include:
- Substitutes and Warm-ups: Teams will still have five substitutes per match, but only three substitute players per team are allowed to warm up at the same time.
- Ball Retrieval: When the ball goes out of play and cannot be quickly retrieved, players must pick up a replacement ball from the nearest cone. Ball assistants are not allowed to directly return the ball to players but must place it on a vacant cone. An exception allows ball assistants behind the goals to return the ball to the goalkeeper for a restart.
- Technical Area Conduct: Referees will eject technical area staff who intentionally delay the restart of play by holding or kicking the ball away. Players in the technical area who do this will be shown a yellow card.
- Added Time Calculation: Match officials will only start adding time to the end of the match if the delay between a goal and the next kick-off exceeds 30 seconds. This change aims to reduce stoppage time, considering last season’s average of 3.28 goals per match.
These rule changes are intended to improve the game’s flow and ensure fair play throughout the season.
