Luis Figo
Some interesting thoughts from Luis Figo as part of FIFA campaign
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/31531664
Ok initial instict is no wait leave it as it is - no change wanted here.
But with a little more thought
a) World Cup - instinctively number of teams has to be a multiple of eight otherwise tend to get artificial group qualification rules (half of the third place teams with best records etc), but is there a thread of an idea with in these days of easier travel splitting an enlarged tournament geographically. How about four groups of 16 (geographically diverse) playing four team groups as now, top two qualify and then maybe play one knock out game locally - split the four divisions across the world - 1) say in australia 2) one in argentina, 3) one in USA, 4) one in Asia/Africa. Then 16 teams that emerge meet up in say Germany for last 16 and onwards knock out competition. genuine world wide four yearly celebration of football - with only one match for the winning country than currently. Germ of an idea?
b) Sin bins - worthy of an experiment in a league somewhere - perhaps only for reasonably serious offences to avoid damaging the flow of the game?
c) Reversion to the old offside law - not sure I agree with this one, while it may be more open to interpretation new law means defences have to use their skill to stop attackers rather than just relying on an organised old Arsenal style collective stepping up. Would old rule simplky make game less exciting.
Stimulating ideas from Mr Figo though. Rapidly becoming my choice.
Comments
I think football could learn a lot from other sports
No arguing with the referee like in Rugby. Only the captain or nominated vice captain can interact with the referee. Instant yellow card for any dissent.
Stop the clock when the ball is out of play, or during any other stoppage. This would put a very quick end to all time wasting and a lot of other "gamesmanship".
Video decisions for anything major. Perhaps a three strike rule like tennis to stop teams contesting every decision.
Agree with most of what you say.
Not sure about the stop the clock when ball goes out of play. It would make a 90min game take a very long time. May surprise you to know that in an average 90min match, ball has been shown to be actually in play for just over 60mins. for a third of the time, you are paying to watch "players" getting themselves ready for a GK or a corner or a throw in etc but no actual action at all!
Perhaps stopping the clock could be done at the referee's discretion.
As soon as someone starts time wasting, he can just freeze the timer and let everyone spend as long as they like tying their shoelaces in front of the ball or rolling around on the floor in pseudo-agony.
T> @BillStickers said:
Pretty sure they're meant to be doing that anyway with time added on. I don't believe for one second that they do though.
He seems to be a breath of fresh air. Also, promising to distribute £1BN of the £1.5BN cash reserves among the member associations will certainly be a vote winner. Good luck to him.
Why not have 2 halves of 30 minutes ball in play? Same rough expired duration as now and prevents time wasting and gamesmanship. This is actually something I've discussed with friends on several occasions over the past few years.
As a (ex) lower league referee I think it could be readily implemented at all levels with the use of a relatively simple hand held timer
Although that sounds cool in principal everyone will complain that we are americanising the sport of soccer
*tv companies
@DevC "World Cup - instinctively number of teams has to be a multiple of eight otherwise tend to get artificial group qualification rules (half of the third place teams with best records etc)"
Please expand on this statement. A tournament with 40 or 48 teams, presumably split into 10 or 12 groups of 4 teams each result in exactly the scenario you claimed it would avoid. From a 48 team tournament we would still need the 8 best third place teams to fill a full Round of 32 draw.
32 teams as it is now is fine, just maybe reduce the number of spaces open to European teams.
Croider.
You are right of course. I know what I meant, just didnt say it! Unless you are going to have knock-out preliminary rounds, which doesnt really work for WC/Euros, the only format that really works is team numbers of 2,4,8,16,32,64 etc. 24, 40 or 48 just makes a mess as we saw for example in Argentina 78 and will see in Euro 16. Bit of a senior moment I'm afraid. Apols.