Football: deliberately coughing on a player will be punished with a red card

The rules of football have continued to evolve since the resumption. Health crisis requires, new rules are put in place to ensure the smooth running of the meetings. This Tuesday, Ifab, the body that changes the rules of the game, indicated that a player may be awarded a red card if he coughs in the direction of a referee or an opponent. The referee will then be in charge of judging whether it is a dangerous or insulting gesture.

“As with all rule violations, the referee will have to judge what the true nature of this violation is,” explained Ifab. "If it is clearly accidental, the referee will not have to act, as if the cough occurred at a sufficient distance from any other player," added the Board.

England will apply this rule

For its part, the English Football Federation has indicated that this measure will be applied to amateur and leisure football with immediate effect. However, she opened the door to a simple warning for "unsportsmanlike attitude" if the incident was not serious enough to warrant a red card. Last month, Ifab had already amended the regulations by extending until 2021 the rule that allows coaches to make five changes instead of the usual three.