IFAB recommend 10-minute sin bin trials in professional football

International Football Association Board (IFAB) have recommended 10-minute sin bins to be trialled in the professional game.

Football's lawmakers, IFAB, are planning to introduce 10-minute sin bins as a way to punish cynical fouls and dissent.

They announced the trials at a meeting on Tuesday, with the proposals subject to approval at an Annual General Meeting in spring 2024.

With the plans expected to involve professional football, IFAB need to decide what level of competition the trials will be implemented.

"The positive message of the meeting is that 'yes, we're going to do something in that direction," IFAB secretary Lukas Brud told BBC Sport.

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"Over the next weeks and months, we are going to identify which levels are best to test. I'm hoping in the next few months we will have clarity about which competitions will want to trial this as well.

"It's up to them, competition organisers, to decide whether they want to participate in those trials or not. I think it is important to understand that something big like this, and a big decision like that, has to be considered thoroughly when creating protocols and setting up the system to trial it."

Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham, who is a member of the IFAB board, hinted that sin bins could be used to punish tactical fouling instead of issuing a yellow card.

Bullingham said: "I think [there is] frustration for fans watching games when they see a promising counter-attack that's ruined by that [a tactical foul].

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"The question of whether a yellow card is sufficient for that has led to us looking at whether that should be involved in the protocol as well.

"The starting point was looking at player behaviour and dissent – we're then looking at whether we should extend it into other areas, such as tactical fouls, as well."

The use of sin bins has already been implemented in a number of other sports, including Rugby Union and Ice Hockey.

While they are not widely associated with football, they were introduced at the grassroots level from the start of the 2019-20 season.

They were then implemented up to step five of the National League system and for tier three and below in the English women's football pyramid.