Weekly refereeing review: 28 September – 5 October 2026
From a Law 14 replay in the FA Cup to The IFAB’s advantage quizzes and a record refereeing workforce, the week that mattered for match officials.
The tie that had to be played again was completed on Tuesday, and The IFAB spent the week walking officials back through the 2026/27 laws already in force. The Football Association put a record refereeing workforce on the record and opened a post aimed at recruiting and keeping women officials. The questions that will show up on Saturday are the practical ones: encroachment on a penalty, advantage after a sending-off, and how long a restart is allowed to take.
What officials should take from this week
- On a scored penalty, attacking encroachment leaves the goal standing unless it clearly affected the goalkeeper, in which case the kick is retaken. An indirect free kick to the defending team is a misapplication.
- Play advantage on serious foul play, violent conduct or a second yellow only when there is a clear chance to score. If that player then plays the ball or challenges an opponent, stop play, send them off and restart with an indirect free kick unless the new offence is more serious. If a denial-of-an-obvious-goal-scoring-opportunity (DOGSO) advantage ends in a goal, award the goal and show no card.
- A player being substituted leaves at the nearest point on the boundary line within ten seconds. The five-second throw-in countdown starts when you have judged the restart to be a deliberate delay.
Mulbarton complete the Law 14 replay
Mulbarton Wanderers beat Woodford Town 2–0 in Norfolk on Tuesday in the Emirates FA Cup second qualifying round replay the Football Association had ordered after a technical error. A record crowd of 806 saw the tie decided on the night. Woodford’s original penalty, in a match Mulbarton had won 2–1, was scored and then disallowed for encroachment by Woodford players, with Mulbarton given an indirect free kick.
An FA sub-committee had already found that Law 14 required either the goal or a retake. Attacking encroachment is penalised only if it clearly affected the goalkeeper, or if the player who encroached then plays the ball or challenges an opponent and scores, attempts to score or creates a chance. With the kick already in the goal, and no second action by an encroaching attacker, the live question is impact on the goalkeeper. Clear impact means a retake. No clear impact means the goal stands. Woodford thanked the FA on Wednesday for having the tie completed with the laws applied.
Saturday takeaway: If the penalty is scored and attackers have stepped in early, award the goal unless their encroachment clearly affected the goalkeeper. If it did, order the retake.
BBC News reported the replay. The procedure is in Law 14.
Advantage after a red-card offence
On Thursday The IFAB restated the limit on advantage for a sending-off. Advantage should not be applied for serious foul play, violent conduct or a second caution unless the non-offending team has a clear opportunity to score. Where that advantage is applied, the player is still sent off at the next stoppage.
The companion point is what happens if the offender will not stay out of it. If, before that stoppage, the player plays the ball or challenges or interferes with an opponent, the referee stops play, sends the player off and restarts with an indirect free kick, unless the player has committed a more serious offence that itself requires a direct free kick or a penalty.
Saturday takeaway: A red-card advantage is for a clear chance to score. If that player then gets involved, stop the game, show the red card and restart with an indirect free kick unless the new act is a direct free kick or penalty offence.
The IFAB set out when advantage should be withheld, and the restart if the player then interferes is in Law 12.
A deliberate handball, then a goal on the advantage
Wednesday’s IFAB quiz was the 2026/27 DOGSO change in a match situation. A defender deliberately handles the ball outside the penalty area and denies an attacker an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. Another attacker then takes the ball, goes through one-on-one and scores.
The goal is awarded. Because the advantage produced a goal, the defender is not cautioned and not sent off. That is the exception. Stop play for a deliberate handball that denies a goal or an obvious goal-scoring opportunity and the player is sent off wherever the offence occurs, outside the case of a goalkeeper handling inside their own penalty area. The same Law 12 page draws the other line: play advantage for a DOGSO that is not serious foul play or violent conduct, and if no goal follows, the offender is cautioned for unsporting behaviour when the ball next goes out of play.
Saturday takeaway: A goal scored because you played advantage for a DOGSO wipes the card. Stop the same deliberate handball and it is a red card and a direct free kick.
The IFAB posed the scenario. The answer is on the Law 12 page.
Leaving at the nearest point
Monday’s law-change quiz asked what happens when a player who is being substituted will not leave at the nearest point on the boundary line. The player must be off within ten seconds of the board, or of the referee’s signal where there is no board, and must leave at the nearest point unless the referee allows the halfway line or another point for safety, security or injury.
Miss the ten seconds and the player still has to leave. They are cautioned only if the delay is excessive. Play restarts, the substitution cannot be cancelled, and the substitute enters only with the referee’s permission at the first stoppage after one minute of running time. The IFAB’s own reply the same day separated that case from a different one: if the player refuses the substitution itself, play continues, as Law 3 already says.
Saturday takeaway: Point them to the nearest line and count ten seconds. A slow exit delays the substitute by a minute. A refusal to be substituted means the change does not happen.
The IFAB asked the question. The procedure is in Law 3.
The five-second throw-in, and when it actually starts
The throw-in and goal-kick countdown has been in the 2026/27 laws since competitions adopted them. It is not a countdown on every restart. The referee uses it when a team is deliberately delaying the throw-in or goal kick: a whistle and a clear arm signal, then a visual five, which can be counted aloud. If the ball is not in play when the five ends, the throw-in goes to the opposing team from the same place. A goal kick that runs out becomes a corner on the nearer side. A caution follows only if the same player or a team-mate then excessively delays that new restart. A player who is already in the act of throwing or kicking as the count ends is not penalised. The count can start before the player even has the ball, including while they are walking slowly to fetch it.
On Sunday a RefChat thread described an EFL match in which the countdown was not used, with several throw-ins running past 20 seconds. That is the enforcement question. The protocol is a tool for delay you have already judged, and once you have started it, the restart has to be in play inside the five.
Saturday takeaway: Start the five when the delay is deliberate, count it so both teams can see it, and give the restart to the other team if the ball is not in play. Let a throw that is already on its way go.
The countdown is in the Laws of the Game 2026/27. The match-day question was raised on RefChat.
A record workforce, and a pathway with names on it
On Thursday the FA published its 2025–26 Grassroots Behaviour and Discipline Report, covering serious misconduct at Step 5 and below in the men’s game and Tier 3 and below in the women’s game. Registered match officials reached 41,500 at the end of the season, with retention at 82%. Serious-offence allegations against match officials fell by 0.28 per 1,000 fixtures. Respect marks were “good” in 90.5% of more than 1.3 million scores, and serious misconduct remained under 0.09% of grassroots fixtures. Discrimination reports rose by 0.40 per 1,000 fixtures. The average ban for a proved discrimination offence was seven matches, and a first offence in 2026–27 will carry a standard suspension of at least ten matches, plus a fine and education. FA Refereeing pointed officials to the latest referee strategy data the same morning.
The same week the FA advertised a part-time Women’s Refereeing Recruitment & Retention Officer, three days a week and home-based, to lead recruitment and retention against its refereeing strategy. Applications close on 6 October. At the Asian Football Awards on 29 September, Abid Hussain was named the inaugural Match Official of the Year after coming through the original CORE X cohort to Level 2. Mo Matadar, a National Referee Manager at the FA, received special recognition for services to officiating. Pro Ref also backed this weekend’s Play Safe Weekend, under the theme “Keep Up the Convo”, which sits with any official working youth football.
Saturday takeaway: The workforce numbers are up and offences against officials are down, and the sanction for discrimination is about to get longer. The recruitment ask, for women officials in particular, is open now.
Figures are in the FA’s behaviour report. The role is on the FA careers page, and Hussain’s award is reported by the North West Londoner.
Sources
Laws of the Game
The FA Cup replay
The FA, Pro Ref and the pathway
RefChat