FIFA Task Force Football 2014 - First Proposals

The newly constituted FIFA Task Force Football 2014 met for the first time yesterday at FIFA House in Zurich. The 22-member think tank comprises representatives from FIFA's Football, Technical and Development, Medical and Referees Committees and other football experts. Their brief is to carry out an in-depth analysis of the modern game with a view to making proposals designed to improve it at every level.

But sadly the group's first meeting saw the absence of its three most prominent members - chairman Franz Beckenbauer, vice-chairman Pele, and Sir Bobby Charlton; who didn't attend due to different reasons.

The other task force members are Carlis Alarcon Rios (Colombia, CONMEBOL Referees Committee president), Demetrio Albertini (Italian Football Federation vice-President), Massimo Busacca (Switzerland, international referee), Kalusha Bwalya (Zambian FA president), Cafu (Brazil, former international), Ivan Curkovic (Serbia, Partizan Belgrade president), Jiri Dvorak (Switzerland, FIFA’s Chief Medical Officer), Sunil Gulati (US Soccer Federation president), Fernando Hierro (Spanish Technical Director), Charmaine Hooper (Canada, former women's international), Alex Horne (England, the FA's General Secretary), Christian Karembeu (France, former international), Tracy Lu (China, Chinese FA), Ioan Lupescu (Romania, former international), Peter Mikkelsen (Denmark, former international referee), Dejan Savicevic (Montenegro FA president), Marina Sbardella (Italian TV journalist), Kohzo Tashima (Japanese FA General Secretary), Theo van Seggelen (FIFPro, General Secretary).

And it is about giving FIFA and the International Football Association Board suggestions on how to make the game better with the different having different experiences in connection with the game.

The FIFA Task Force Football 2014 chairman Franz Beckenbauer is scheduled to brief the 61st FIFA Congress on June 1 in Zurich about the findings of the task force.

The first concrete proposals of the FIFA Task Force Football 2014 are as follows

· The members agreed to propose allowing a fourth substitution in extra time, particularly for youth competitions.

· Discussion of the interpretation of 'Law 11 – Offside' when it comes to interfering with an opponent, especially when it is not physical interference.

· Triple punishment: the members agreed that only in case of serious fouls as well as when denying the opposing team a goalscoring opportunity should a triple punishment be imposed with a penalty, a red card and a suspension. The group proposed reducing sanctions for simple fouls and holding a player in the penalty area to a penalty and a yellow card only. The proposal will be re-submitted to IFAB.

· Refereeing: there was general agreement on the need to professionalise refereeing. Massimo Busacca reported on his experience as a FIFA referee as a basis for discussion on the group's task to come up with concrete solutions in order to further enhance the level of refereeing and to look into opportunities for how to better support referees for the 2014 FIFA World Cup™.

· Competition regulations: a proposal for a uniform classification system in all intercontinental competitions, including the procedures to determine the winner of a match, was discussed and adjourned for consideration at the next meeting.

· Youth competitions: the task force proposed that for FIFA U-17 competitions and below in both the men's and women's game, there should be no extra time following a draw after 90 minutes, and instead the teams should proceed directly to a penalty shoot-out.

· Women's football: the group was asked to come up with proposals to increase the number of female coaches and female referees.