5 rule changes that have revolutionised modern football

3. The back-pass rule

The back-pass rule was introduced in 1992 to discourage time-wasting and defensive play, this after the 1990 World Cup saw many boring matches, where teams would continually pass the ball back to the goalkeeper, who in turn would hold the ball with his hands.

The tactic became an easy way to waste time and release pressure if the opposition was pressing high up the field and giving the backline little time to play the ball out of defence. Keepers would even drop the ball and dribble it around for a while before picking it up again.

Seeing that something had to be done, FIFA announced a new rule that would not allow deliberate backpasses made by the feet to be handled by the goalkeeper.

Initially, this ruling drew a lot of flak, while forgetful goalkeepers would still pick up a backpass instead of kicking it out, in turn resulting in a lot of indirect freekicks inside the box. However, as the benefits of the rule were slowly seen, many appreciated the change that made it much tougher for a team to waste time with the ball in possession.