IHF amends Rules of the Game

The International Handball Federation has informed its member federations and the continental federations of five changes to the Rules of the Game, coming into effect as of 1 July 2016.

The rule changes were tested at the 2015 Men’s Junior and Youth World Championships in Brazil and Russia, respectively.

"According to the surveys conducted by the IHF in collaboration with the participating teams, technical delegates and referees after the aforementioned World Championships, the rules concerned were positively received and met with the approval of the participants," the official letter of the IHF reads.

"Therefore, the following five changes to the Rules of the Game, as presented by the IHF New Rules Working Group, were unanimously ratified by the IHF Council, in its meeting in Sochi, Russia on 6 November 2015, and announced at the XXXV Ordinary IHF Congress in Sochi on 7 November 2015."

The rule changes, in short, are the following ones

1. Goalkeeper as a player: The goalkeeper may be used as a seventh field player.

2. Injured player: An injured player should leave the playing court after receiving medical care on the court and can only re-enter after the third attack of his team is complete.

3. Passive play: After showing the forewarning signal the team forewarned has a total of 6 passes to shoot on goal.

4. Last minute: In Rules 8:5, 8:6, 8:10c and 8:10d, the wording “last minute of a game” should be replaced by “last 30 seconds of a game”.

5. Blue card: The referees have a blue card in addition to the yellow and red ones to provide more clarity regarding the disqualification of a player. If this card is shown, a written report will accompany the score sheet and the Disciplinary Commission will be responsible for further actions.

For further details this downloadable document has been made available.