The South African Football Association [SAFA] has formally written to the Premier Soccer League [PSL], confirming the immediate implementation of new International Football Association Board rule amendments aimed at improving player conduct and protecting match officials.
The new regulations, unanimously approved at a Special IFAB Meeting in Vancouver on 28 April 2026, will also apply to the Motsepe Foundation Championship and the DStv Diski Challenge [DDC].
One of the key amendments targets players who cover their mouths during confrontations with opponents.
Under the new rules, competition organisers may allow referees to issue straight red cards to players who deliberately cover their mouths in heated exchanges on the field.
Football authorities believe the practice has increasingly been used to conceal abusive or inappropriate comments from cameras and officials.
The second major amendment focuses on players leaving the field in protest against refereeing decisions.
Referees will now have the authority to send off any player who walks off the pitch to demonstrate dissent. The same sanction may also apply to team officials found to be encouraging players to abandon the field of play. IFAB further stated that any team responsible for causing a match abandonment will, in principle, forfeit the match.
PSL CALLS FOR URGENT INTERNAL ENGAGEMENTS
Following a meeting of SAFA’s National Referees Committee, it was unanimously agreed that the amendments should be implemented with immediate effect across professional football in South Africa.
In its communication to the PSL, SAFA urged clubs to study the rule changes carefully and engage internally with players and technical teams due to the potentially severe disciplinary consequences attached to the new regulations.
The association stressed that both players and clubs could face serious sanctions should they violate the updated Laws of the Game.
In a circular sent to clubs and seen by FARPost, acting PSL CEO Mato Madlala urged teams to engage internally on the matter.
“Both changes make provision for serious sanctions to be imposed on players and Clubs and are important for you to consider and engage with internally,” wrote Madlala.
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