PGMOL chief Howard Webb says Premier League referees will award more penalties for holding in the 2025/26 season.

Referees have been told to crack down on grappling at set pieces where a player’s contact impedes an opponent’s movement, following feedback from Premier League captains, players and clubs.

“We have to identify those situations that do fall in line with the feedback that we had, that there are just a few too many examples of players clearly pulling people back, impacting their ability to move to the ball or some clear extreme actions are not being penalised,” said Webb.

“They’re the ones I expect us to catch. Therefore, I would expect this time next year to have been a few more penalties given for holding offences than what we’ve seen this year. But not a huge swing of the pendulum because that’s really difficult to sustain over a period of time.”

Referees will analyse instances of holding and assess how severe or extreme they may be, with the criteria including: sustained and/or impactful holding; clear impact on the opponent’s opportunity to play or challenge for the ball; and clear non-footballing action with an impact on the opponent’s movement.

Incidents where a player only focuses on the opponent and not the ball, or pays no attention to challenging or playing the ball, are likely to result in being penalised. Holding while clearly ignoring the ball is an offence but mutual holding is usually not penalised.

The VAR will also be able to intervene, alongside having the ability to check penalty awards.

Webb said: “What we’ve said to the officials is, if you get one of those extreme situations where one player is clearly dragging another one to the floor in an extreme non footballing action, even if it’s off the ball, we expect either the referee to see it or, if it’s a clear one, then the VAR will will intervene and recommend the referee looks at it at the screen because it fits the criteria that we’ve laid out.”

This is not the first time the PGMOL has attempted to reduce holding, but Webb says the approach will be sustained.

“This is not meant to be a six-week campaign, August and September, then we forget all about it,” he said. “If we went in like a steam train and gave every little bit of sort of contact, then it would tell you it would be a six-week campaign.

“We would get told very quickly to ease off from what we’re doing. We have to take the game with us and we have to be credible.”

What other law changes are there this season?

Goalkeeper eight-second rule

Goalkeepers now have a maximum of eight seconds to release the ball once they have gained control.

Control includes: holding the ball between the hands/arms or between the hands/arms and any surface; holding the ball on outstretched open hands and bouncing or throwing the ball.

Referees will determine when the eight-second count begins and will raise an arm to signal the final five seconds. The count will only begin once the goalkeeper has full control of the ball and is able to release it unhindered by opponents.

If the goalkeeper exceeds eight seconds, a corner kick will be awarded to the opposition, taken from the side of the field nearest to the goalkeeper.

Captains only rule

While normal communication between referees and players will continue, only the captain will be invited to approach the referee to explain important decisions, with the expectation that they will help guide team-mates away.

Clear visual gestures, including a ‘stop’ signal and pointing to an imaginary armband, will be used to reinforce this.

Double touch at penalty-kicks

Where a penalty taker accidentally kicks the ball with both feet simultaneously or the ball touches their non-kicking foot or leg immediately after the kick:

If a goal is scored, the kick must be retaken.

If no goal is scored, an indirect free kick will be awarded.

If the penalty taker makes a deliberate double touch, then they will be penalised with an indirect free kick, regardless of goal outcome.

Dropped ball restarts

If play is stopped with the ball inside the penalty area, the restart will be a dropped ball to the goalkeeper.

If play is stopped outside the penalty area, the dropped ball will go to the team that had (or would likely have gained) possession from the position when play was stopped.

Inadvertent interference

In the event of inadvertent interference with the match ball (e.g. by a member of the technical area or a substitute warming up while play is ongoing), the game will be restarted with an indirect free kick and no sanction. 

If the interference is clearly deliberate and impactful, the game will be restarted with an indirect free kick or penalty kick, as well as appropriate disciplinary action.

Sky Sports to show 215 live Premier League games from this season

From this season, Sky Sports’ Premier League coverage will increase from 128 matches to at least 215 games exclusively live.

And 80 per cent of all televised Premier League games this season will be on Sky Sports.