The International Association Football Board (IFAB) has issued updates for 2026 to the Laws of The Game (LoTG). These changes apply around the world to all competition teams, ie. W12/U12 and over.

There are six changes, but two of these might occur more frequently in games. 

Firstly, now only team captains may speak to the referee – if other players do so (ie. crowd around the referee) then they may be penalised. Team captains will be expected to help manage the behaviour of their players.

The second notable change is .. if the goalkeeper picks up the ball and then doesn’t release it after 8 seconds then a corner is awarded against the defending team. Everyone will need to watch the new hand signals from the referee as they count down the time. Repeated infringements will be further penalised.

You can read a concise summary of all the changes from the MWFRA HERE.