Premier League 2025-26: News, rules and VAR you need to know

Alofoke Deportes brings you the news from the Premier League 2025-26!

The 2025-26 Premier League season kicks off on Friday with a stellar clash: the champion, Liverpool, hosts AFC Bournemouth. As every year, the new campaign brings with it changes in the rules and initiatives that promise to transform the game. In Alofoke Deportes we tell you everything you need to know.

The War on Holding in Corner Kicks and Set Pieces

During the second half of last season, holding within the penalty area increased, and it will now be a focus of attention for referees in the 2025-26 season. The question is whether this measure will be maintained or forgotten over time. There is recognition that referees have allowed too much holding, and it is necessary to establish a limit. The referees will be incentivized not to give repeated warnings, but to sanction the infraction directly. This means that, instead of delaying the game with conversations, a penalty will be called. What will the referee and VAR look for? Contact that prevents the opponent’s movement. Simply holding the shirt is not a foul, there must be an impact.

Ipswich Town’s Axel Tuanzebe brought down Nathan Collins after the Brentford player got away, but a penalty was not awarded by VAR.Key considerations:

• Prolonged holding. If the hold is fleeting, there may be no impact.
• Impact on the opponent’s ability to play or challenge for the ball.
• A clear non-football related action where the offending player has no interest in playing the ball.
• Mutual holding between both players will generally not be penalized.

There will also be a focus on simulation, so we could see more warnings for this practice during the season. This includes situations like a player falling to the ground clutching their face after a push to the chest. Players with head injuries will no longer be consulted about whether they want to receive treatment, in an effort to address time-wasting and for the player’s well-being. The physiotherapist will be called automatically, and the player must leave the field for a minimum of 30 seconds.

Goalkeepers and the eight-second rule

One of the most significant modifications refers to the eight-second rule for goalkeepers. The previous rule, which obliged the goalkeeper to clear the ball in six seconds, had not been applied for years. Now, the goalkeeper will have eight seconds, but with a clear sanction process. Once the goalkeeper has control of the ball, they will have eight seconds to release it. The referee will raise their arm to indicate that five seconds remain, and then lower it each second so that the countdown is clear. If the ball is not released, a corner will be awarded. If an opponent deliberately gets in the goalkeeper’s way, the count will be stopped and a free kick will be awarded. The intention is not to catch goalkeepers off guard, but referees must intervene if the line is crossed.

Chelsea goalkeeper Robert Sánchez falls to the ground and clutches the ball, the kind of behavior that the rule modification seeks to avoid.The public remains skeptical about the possibility of this rule meeting the same fate as the previous one, although the referee’s hand signal is a new element. It will be observed whether the fans start a five-second countdown when the referee raises his arm. The tests carried out during the 2024-25 season in Premier League 2 (academies) and in Maltese and Italian football revealed few corners conceded for this reason. The IFAB approved the change, and it was applied in professional football in South America, in the CONMEBOL Libertadores and the CONMEBOL Sudamericana. In the Club World Cup, only two corners were conceded against goalkeepers in 62 matches. Pierluigi Collina, FIFA’s head of referees, stated after the Club World Cup: “It was very successful; the pace of the game improved. We didn’t waste time with goalkeepers holding the ball in their hands for a long time, as often happened in previous matches. The purpose was not to concede corner kicks, but to prevent the eight-second rule from being ignored. The purpose was 100% achieved.”

What about VAR?

The Premier League will continue to apply a high threshold in VAR interventions, supported by the “referee’s decision”, with 83% support according to the survey of coaches, captains, former players and fans. VAR errors last season decreased to 18 (from 31 in 2023-24), although fan perception likely won’t match that. The semi-automated offside technology (SAOT) will be in operation from the first matchday, which should help reduce delays. Last season, the average VAR delay per match was reduced from 64 to 39 seconds. The SAOT replays will be shown on the giant screens inside the stadiums, along with the disallowed goals. Last season, Nottingham Forest striker Taiwo Awoniyi suffered an injury when the offside was delayed. However, we will not see automatic offside flags, which FIFA introduced at the Club World Cup, where technology calculated that a player was more than 10 cm offside. The Premier League will discuss with FIFA the success of the measure, but for now we will continue to see some cases where a player is clearly offside, but the flag is not raised until the end of the play.

Handball Penalties

Last season, the Premier League only saw nine penalties awarded for handball, by far the lowest number of the major European leagues. The stakeholder survey revealed that 78% were in favor of this approach, and only 3% felt there should be a stricter application in England. Therefore, the referees will continue to apply the same philosophy. Key points:

• A justifiable arm position in the player’s action.
• If the arm is used to support the body when falling.
• If the player hits or heads the ball and it hits their own arm.
• If the ball deflects off a player and there is a clear change of trajectory.
• Hit against the player by a teammate.
• Proximity.

The double-touch penalty

In March, Julián Álvarez, from Atlético de Madrid, was “incredulous” after his penalty was disallowed in the defeat against Real Madrid in the Champions League. The Argentinian international accidentally touched the ball twice when taking the penalty, and VAR intervened to cancel the goal. Atlético’s coach, Diego Simeone, still hasn’t gotten over it. In June, IFAB announced a “clarification” of the law, after UEFA requested it. Now, IFAB says that this was never the true intention, and it should only apply to a deliberate second touch. In the rare event that VAR identifies such an infringement and the ball enters the net, the penalty will be retaken. If the player misses (or deliberately plays the ball a second time, for example, after a rebound off the post), the referee must award a free kick to the opposing team (or it will be maintained as a miss in a penalty shootout).

The first example of this rule change was seen in the Women’s Euro 2025 final. England’s Beth Mead slipped when taking the penalty, but the ball went into the net. However, VAR checked for a possible double touch and it had to be retaken (Mead missed).

Collina explained: “We thought this should have been clarified because the double touch was related to something done deliberately. We decided it was better to clarify by adding two separate scenarios, one when it is still deliberate and another when it is accidental.”“I think that in this way the spirit of the game and the spirit of the Rules of the Game are respected.”

Body cameras for referees

Get ready for a new perspective on the game: as seen by the referee. We already saw RefCam at the Club World Cup, and now it will arrive in the Premier League. It will be tested in the first weeks of the season and, if successful, will be implemented throughout the campaign. The referees will wear a fixed camera in their headsets, and the images will be immediately available to the competition broadcasters. However, footage cannot be shown live, except before the match in the tunnel or during the draw. It’s described more as an entertainment add-on. We can expect to see goals from the referee’s perspective, but we won’t see what happens on the VAR monitor at the field. After the Club World Cup, IFAB approved the expansion of the body camera test for referees to national and international competitions worldwide. Therefore, it will arrive in the Premier League, but not in the first few matchdays. Collina said: “The result of using the RefCam here at the FIFA Club World Cup 2025 exceeded our expectations. We thought it would be an interesting experience for television viewers and we have received great feedback. We had the possibility of seeing what the referee sees on the field of play. This was not only for entertainment purposes, but also to train the referees and explain why something was not seen on the field of play”. However, controversial or confrontational moments will not be shown, and the Premier League will act with caution in its use.

Referees will announce VAR decisions

It was already seen in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup matches in the second half of last season, and is now ready for full implementation in the Premier League. The referees will announce the result of a VAR review (or a prolonged check) through the stadium’s public address system and to television viewers, something that has already been seen in several competitions, and which was first tested at the 2023 Women’s World Cup. However, the audio of the conversation between the referee and VAR will remain secret. It remains to be seen how much this will actually add. It will probably be good for complex situations or off-the-ball incidents. But there have been learnings from its use in the first half of the year. Factual offside decisions, which are usually very obvious, will not require the referee to announce them. Only the captains can speak to the referee The Premier League chose not to adopt this last season, but after seeing it in operation in other competitions, it now believes it is a useful tool for the behavior of the participants. Normal interactions between players and the referee are still permitted, but the referee can invite the captain to explain decisions that in the past might have involved players running towards the referees. When the captain is the goalkeeper, a nominated outfield player will speak to the referee. This is supposed to prevent a referee from being surrounded by players. While this might be easier to apply in short competitions like the Club World Cup and the Gold Cup, it has proven to be more difficult in a 380-match domestic season.

The ball to the ground

A simpler change, covering the ball hitting the referee. In the previous wording of the law, if the ball hit the referee, the ball to ground would go to the team that was last in possession of the ball. Now, it’s about who would take possession. In most cases, we will likely see the referee err on the side of caution and give the ball to the team that made the pass, as it would have to be beyond all doubt that a change of possession was going to occur.

No red card for coaches who touch the ball when it’s in play

In the 2024-25 Champions League season, Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta grabbed the ball before it went out of play in a match against Inter. A direct free kick was awarded and Arteta was cautioned, but according to the Laws of the Game, he should have been sent off. But most leagues have been dealing with this with a caution, as a red card was considered too harsh for a minor infraction. And here’s the change: if a coach picks up the ball while it’s in play, and it was nothing more than an attempt to get the game going again, there will be no sanction (not even a warning) and an indirect free kick will be awarded. But trying to prevent the opponent from restarting the game will still be an infraction that will result in a red card.