Goalkeepers vs clock: How the 8-second rule will impact Kenyan football
In this new amendment, which is one of six changes that IFAB recently approved for the 2025/26 edition of the Laws of the Game, the referee will award a corner kick to the opposing team, if a goalkeeper holds the ball for longer than eight seconds.
"It is always us goalkeepers that have to adapt new rules," Nairobi City Stars goalkeeper Edwin Mukolwe tells The Eastleigh Voice in an interview while reacting to the decision of the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to amend Law 12.2 (Indirect free kick).
"Football rules are always being changed to make it easier for goals to be scored and such decisions always affect the goalkeepers because our job is to prevent goals," Mukolwe adds, referring to football rules which have been introduced over the last 150 years that have changed how goalkeepers play the game.
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In this new amendment, which is one of six changes that IFAB recently approved for the 2025/26 edition of the Laws of the Game, the referee will award a corner kick to the opposing team, if a goalkeeper holds the ball for longer than eight seconds.
With this new rule expected to take effect from July 1, 2025, currently, a referee is required to award an indirect free kick to the opposing team if a goalkeeper holds the ball for longer than six seconds.
In a statement released on Saturday, IFAB stated that the new rule is expected to tackle time-wasting by goalkeepers and it comes into force after successful trials which were carried out in various lower leagues in Europe.
During those trials, IFAB recorded goalkeepers adapting to the rule seamlessly, with only four corner-kicks awarded in 400 trialled games at Italian youth league matches.
Despite his concerns about most changes to football rules affecting goalkeepers, Mukolwe agrees with IFAB's findings from their trials about goalkeepers easily adapting to the rule.
"Unlike European goalkeepers who hold on to the ball longer, I do not expect Kenyan goalkeepers to have a challenge adapting to the new rule," Mukolwe says, highlighting that the strict enforcement of the six-second rule by Kenyan referees has already conditioned Kenyan goalkeepers to release the ball faster. "After all, that is what the rule is about, for the game to be played faster," he adds.
Crack the whip
While agreeing with Mukolwe on the ability of Kenyan goalkeepers to adapt to the rule change easily, Sofapaka goalkeeper coach Wilson Obungu also urges IFAB to crack the whip on actions by outfield players that contribute to time-wasting, particularly when restarting play from corner kicks, free kicks, and throw-ins.
"Outfield players are notorious for wasting time as well. When a team is ahead, they usually delay taking corner kicks, free kicks, and throw-ins. IFAB should also impose a timer on such actions, not just goal kicks," Obungu, who is a former Harambee Stars goalkeeper, says.
Obungu also expects the rule to influence changes to team tactics since the goalkeeper will be under more pressure to release the ball early.
"Players will be opening up much faster to give their goalkeepers an easier and quicker option of playing the ball. Also, teams will start taking training of corner kicks seriously since their frequency in matches is set to increase," Obungu says before highlighting that the new rule change is also more favourable to defending teams as indirect free kicks gave opposing teams a higher chance of scoring a goal.
"The indirect free kick created an easy scoring opportunity for opposing teams," he says.
Supporting Obungu's opinion from a different perspective, FKF Premier League referee Badir Yassin expressed that awarding corners, instead of indirect free kicks, will also make it much easier for referees to adapt to the new rule change.
"Enforcing the six-second rule was difficult because most referees struggled with establishing the place the ball should be placed within the goal area or the penalty area for an indirect free kick to be taken," Yassin says. "Now with having to award a corner kick, it will become easier for referees to punish the offence. Previously, referees let goalkeepers get away with wasting time since awarding indirect free kicks and measuring the 10 yards wasted even more time," he added.
Yassin then explained that corners will be taken from the side of the field of play closest to where the goalkeeper was positioned when penalised. He also shared that IFAB had planned to replace the indirect free kick with a throw-in to be taken in line with the penalty mark, and not a corner kick.
"If the goalkeeper is centrally positioned, then the referee will pick any side he wishes the corner to be taken from," Yassin says.
The new rule also requires referees to start counting the eight seconds when the goalkeeper has clear control of the ball. To count the seconds, the referee will use a raised hand to clearly show the countdown from five seconds to zero.
According to Yassin, Kenyan referees will receive training on how to enforce the rules during the mid-season PET whose date has not been communicated yet.
"After that, we will be in a position to enforce the rule when the next season starts," he says.
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