With the start of the 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship in Slovakia today, UEFA will enforce an amendment to Law 12.2 of the Laws of the Game – approved by the International Football Association Board (IFAB) on 1 March 2025.

Axar.az informs according to the official website of UEFA, under this new rule, if a goalkeeper holds the ball for more than eight seconds, the referee will award a corner kick to the opposing team.

This replaces the previous sanction of an indirect free kick for holding the ball beyond six seconds. The referee will also use a visible five-second countdown to signal the final portion of the time limit.

This rule will now apply to all UEFA competition matches starting today.