New yellow card rule at Euro 2024: ‘Only captains allowed to protest referee’

Roberto Rosetti, Chairman of the UEFA Referees Committee, says only captains will be allowed to protest at referees’ decisions at Euro 2024 while all other players approaching officials and ‘showing any sort of disrespect or dissent will receive a yellow card.’

Former Serie A referee Rosetti explained some new guidelines for Euro 2024 in an article written for La Gazzetta dello Sport on Tuesday.

“Being a referee in modern football is very difficult. Officials make 200 to 250 decisions per game, so one every 22 seconds, in difficult and sometimes controversial situations, under enormous pressure,” wrote Rosetti.

“Each decision is examined from different angles by pundits and fans.

“We want referees with strong personalities who make decisions that may be unpopular, but we also want them to be open and explain what led us to make determined choices. They receive a lot of information from VAR, and we are ready to talk and share as many details as possible with players and coaches to help them understand why a certain decision was made.

“The behaviour of footballers and coaches has always been key in football. During the Euro 2024 Workshop in April, coaches agreed that they were ready to work to favour fair play,” continued Rosetti.

“It is impossible to explain a decision to 22 players around you. It could lead to an interruption in the communication. Everyone believes it is harmful to the image of football. Obviously, some decisions will always be discussed. However, in an attempt to improve the status quo, we at UEFA want referees to explain their decisions to all the teams involved at Euro 2024.”

Here comes the big part.

“How will we do it? The idea is simple. We’ll ask all the teams to ensure that only their captain talks to the referee,” said Rosetti.

“We’ll ask the captains to ensure that their teammates don’t corner the referee, allowing direct conversation until the decision is made in a respectful and tempestive way.

“It’s important to stress that we only want the captain of a team to talk to the referee. It will be his [the captain’s] responsibility to ensure his teammates keep their distance from the referee. Any player who ignores the role of his captain and approaches the referee showing any sort of disrespect or dissent will receive a yellow card.

“Obviously, if the captain is the goalkeeper, each team must name an outfield player who can cover that role in case an incident happens on the opposite side of the pitch.”

This may be Italy’s case as Gigio Donnarumma is expected to captain the Azzurri at Euro 2024.

The PSG star wore the armband in six appearances out of seven under Luciano Spalletti, while Ciro Immobile was the captain in the CT against North Macedonia in September 2023.

“Referees will be encouraged to be open to discussion, favouring a hearty atmosphere between all the parties,” continued Rosetti.

“This will allow them to build trust with players and demonstrate the leadership modern referees must have. A team of UEFA referee specialists and, when possible, a tournament referee will meet each of the 24 teams to discuss this information with the footballers in a more detailed way.

“Adopting this approach will raise the already high quality of referees in competition, leading to better games for the footballers and the fans during the tournament.

“If we manage to facilitate a constructive dialogue between the referee and the team captains, everyone will benefit, and we’ll leave a positive legacy for the future of this amazing game that we all love.”

Rosetti is among the top referees of all time and retired after the 2010 World Cup. His first appointment after the end of his career was as a Serie B designator.

He made his Serie A debut in 1996 and received his FIFA Badge in 2002.

The former Italian referee is currently the Chief Refereeing Officer and Chairman of the Referees Committee at UEFA.