Spain’s refereeing committee, through president Carlos Velasco Carballo, have published a memo ahead of La Liga restarting, which is 11 pages long and provides instructions to referees.
The document looks at the new rules put in place. It starts with reminding officials of some basic principles, like positioning to view the game more clearly, to be close to the ball, and anticipate the action.
It also mentions different types of tactical fouls and the difference between a promising attack and a goalscoring opportunity. In case of the second, when the foul is outside the box, whether or not the defender was going for the ball, it is always a red card. Inside the area it is only yellow if the player was going for the ball, red if not.
There are also distinctions between types of bad tackle, ones which don’t need to be penalised, recklessness which merits a yellow and excessive force which should see the red card sent.
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The difference lies in the thorough analysis that went into the World Cup in Russia and judging fouls by the severity and risk of injury.