Weekly refereeing review: 19–26 October 2026

IFAB spent the week on procedure officials actually have to run: how long an injured player stays off, and what an accidental second touch at a penalty is worth when the goalkeeper

IFAB spent the week on procedure officials actually have to run: how long an injured player stays off, and what an accidental second touch at a penalty is worth when the goalkeeper saves it. In England, the Key Match Incidents panel and an FA commission reached opposite conclusions on the same VAR red card, then Saturday’s Ipswich v Nottingham Forest monitor call turned on whether a heavy touch was still a denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity. Pro Ref’s crews were out in Europe, Nicoleta Bria was on the line at the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup, and The FA pointed the pathway at camp, the Women’s FA Cup and emotional control.

What officials should take from this week

Start the one-minute injury clock when play restarts, and bring the player back only with your permission. Early re-entry is a yellow; the restart is a direct free kick only if they interfered.
An accidental second touch at a penalty that the goalkeeper saves is an indirect free kick to the defending team. The same accident that still ends in a goal is a retake.
DOGSO needs distance, direction, a real chance of control, and the players around the ball. A later 3–2 panel vote is a learning review; it is a different process from a wrongful-dismissal appeal.

The one-minute injury clock, and the yellow for coming back early

IFAB restated the 2026/27 off-field treatment rule in three posts on 20 October. Where an injury stops play, or delays the restart, the injured player leaves and may return only after one minute on a running clock, and only with the referee’s permission. If the ball is in play, re-entry is from the touchline; if it is out of play, from any boundary line.

Come back without permission and the referee stops play — not immediately if the player is not interfering with play or with a match official, or if advantage applies — then cautions them. Stopped play restarts with a direct free kick from the interference, or with an indirect free kick from where the ball was if there was no interference.

The leave-the-field requirement has a short exception list: an injured goalkeeper; a goalkeeper and an outfield player who have collided and both need attention; a same-team collision; a severe injury; a player injured by a physical offence already punished with a yellow or red, if treatment is quick; and a penalty kicker. A head-injury assessment still ends with that player leaving for the minute, so they can be checked properly. On 22 October IFAB set a no-foul collision — goalkeeper and attacker, both down, the keeper able to continue without treatment — as the worked example. No offence means a dropped ball. The minute applies to the outfield player whose injury stopped play, unless one of those exceptions actually fits.

Saturday takeaway: Start the clock at the restart, not when the physio arrives. If they step back on early and they are not in the way, play advantage, then show the yellow when you next stop.

Source: The IFAB — one-minute re-entry · The IFAB — yellow for re-entry without permission · The IFAB — restart after interference · IFAB — off-field treatment and assessment protocol

Accidental double touch: a save stays a save

IFAB’s 19 October Law 14 quiz is the other half of the penalty slip. The kicker slips, the ball accidentally touches the non-kicking foot or leg immediately after the kick, and the goalkeeper saves it. The ball stays out and rebounds into the field. The goalkeeper has done nothing wrong.

Law 14 treats that accidental second touch by outcome. The ball does not go in, so the restart is an indirect free kick to the defending team. The ball does go in, so the kick is retaken. In a penalty shoot-out the same split is in Law 10: a goal is retaken; anything else is recorded as missed.

Saturday takeaway: Separate the slip from a deliberate second touch. Saved or missed after an accidental clip of the standing leg: indirect free kick to the defence. In the net from that same accident: retake.

Source: The IFAB — penalty slip scenario · IFAB — Law 14, the penalty kick · IFAB — Law 10, penalty shoot-out

KMI backs the Struijk red. The FA commission did not.

On 21 October the Premier League’s Key Match Incidents panel supported Pascal Struijk’s red card at Sunderland, after an FA disciplinary commission had already lifted the ban. Referee Thomas Bramall did not give a foul. VAR Neil Davies sent him to the monitor, and Bramall sent Struijk off for denying Wilson Isidor an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.

The commission was unanimous: Isidor had not taken control, and the pass was clearly running through to goalkeeper Bart Verbruggen. The five-person KMI panel — three former players or coaches, one Premier League representative, one Pro Ref representative — went the other way, 3–2 on both the missed foul and red, and the VAR intervention. The two dissenters called the intervention incorrect because it was subjective whether Isidor would get to the ball first. Struijk was available again for Brighton’s match against Crystal Palace and missed it through injury.

Saturday takeaway: “Obvious” includes the likelihood of keeping or gaining control. If that is still a debate at the monitor, the on-field decision should stand. A panel vote afterwards is for learning; the appeal is what decides the suspension.

Source: BBC Sport — Dale Johnson, KMI panel backs the Struijk red card

Ipswich v Forest: the monitor call finished as a yellow

Matchweek 8’s clearest DOGSO review came at Portman Road. In the 48th minute Issa Diop brought down James McAtee outside the penalty area. Thomas Bramall did not give a foul. VAR Constantine Hatzidakis recommended a review for a possible denial of an obvious goal-scoring opportunity.

After the monitor, Bramall gave the foul and a yellow for stopping a promising attack. His announcement was specific: the player knocks the ball to the right side of the goal, so the decision is a direct free kick and a yellow card to No. 6. On the Match Centre audio he calls it a heavy touch, with the defender inside, the ball played away from goal.

That is the 2026/27 DOGSO list in one sentence: distance to goal, general direction of play, likelihood of keeping or gaining control, and the location and number of defenders and attackers. RefChat’s thread on the incident is already testing whether that touch was enough to take the attack out of “obvious”.

Saturday takeaway: At the screen, say the direction of the ball out loud before you choose red or yellow. A foul outside the area can still be a promising attack.

Source: Premier League — Matchweek 8 VAR decisions explained · RefChat — Ipswich v Forest missed DOGSO · IFAB changes to the Laws 2026/27 — DOGSO considerations

English crews in Europe, and Bria at the U17 World Cup

Pro Ref said five English officiating teams were working across Europe this week. The published lists name two in full. Michael Oliver refereed Paris Saint-Germain v Barcelona on 20 October, with Stuart Burt and James Mainwaring and fourth official Robert Jones. John Brooks refereed Celje v Salzburg on 22 October, with Daniel Cook and Akil Howson, fourth official Andrew Madley, and Darren England on VAR.

Assistant referee Nicoleta Bria’s FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup week in Morocco ran alongside that. Pro Ref appointed her to Morocco v Germany on 20 October, with referee Lara Lee, and to Spain v Australia on 22 October, with referee Alejandra Quisbert. The compiled appointment list also has her as assistant on China v USA on 25 October, again with Lee. At home, Pro Ref released Ref Cam from Paul Tierney’s Everton v Chelsea, on positioning, movement and communication.

Saturday takeaway: Brief the team before you walk out — who has the next phase, who speaks, where the spare official stands — then watch one clip of your own movement afterwards. That habit is the same at a park pitch and at the Parc des Princes.

Source: Pro Ref — five English teams in Europe · Champions League appointments, 20 October · Europa League appointments, matchday 3 · Pro Ref — Bria, Morocco v Germany · Pro Ref — Bria, Spain v Australia

FA CORE camp, the Women’s FA Cup, and a session on control

FA Refereeing posted from the National Performance Centre on 22 October and followed it with a look at what officials did at the camp. The same account set the weekend’s featured appointments on the Women’s FA Cup first round proper — another step on the road to Wembley — and opened the next Grassroots to Greatness session: managing emotions and staying in control, online at 7pm on Wednesday 28 October.

Saturday takeaway: Book the 28 October session if control under pressure is the part of your game that slips, and treat a Women’s FA Cup appointment as a pathway match: same preparation, same review, smaller crowd.

Source: FA Refereeing — CORE National Performance Centre 2026 · FA Refereeing — camp · FA Refereeing — Women’s FA Cup featured appointments · FA Refereeing — Grassroots to Greatness, 28 October