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New heading rules for U7-U11 youth football

New heading rules for U7-U11 youth football

ian baldwin11 Sep 2024 - 07:13

New rule to be introduced to phase out heading in grassroots youth football matches

In 2022, The FA became the first national association to successfully implement the International Football Association Board (IFAB) trial to eliminate deliberate heading in grassroots football matches at the U12 level and below.

The FA initially introduced the IFAB trial in England following the establishment of heading guidelines in youth football in 2020. This was followed by the implementation of heading restrictions in training across all levels of professional and amateur football in 2021.

After conducting two seasons of the IFAB trial within English football, The FA will now roll out a new regulation to gradually eliminate deliberate heading in matches across all affiliated grassroots youth football from U7 to U11 levels over the next three seasons. This rule will apply to all leagues, clubs, and affiliated school football matches. The phase-out will begin with U7-U9 levels in the 2024-25 season, extend to U10 in the 2025-26 season, and include U11 by the 2026-27 season.

As players transition from primary to secondary education, heading the ball will be reintroduced at the U12 level to mark this shift.

Adapting the Heading Trial for the 2024-25 Season

The FA has gathered feedback from leagues and clubs participating in the IFAB trial to assess and enhance the experience of players involved. The goal is to provide more technical play opportunities with the ball at their feet, increase effective playing time, and reduce the time the ball spends in the air during matches.

Based on this feedback, the following changes will be introduced from the 2024-25 season for U7-U9 teams:

Deliberate Heading Restart Rule:

Deliberate heading of the ball will be considered an offense, resulting in an indirect free kick.
The indirect free kick will be taken from the spot where the ball was deliberately headed, except:
If the deliberate header occurs within the player’s own penalty area, the referee will stop play and award an indirect free kick to the opposing team from the nearest point on the penalty area boundary where the incident occurred.

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