UEFA clarifies goal-line technology procedure

UEFA has added two minor amendments to the UEFA EURO 2016 competition regulations, clarifying the procedures for the use of goal-line technology and the treatment of severe player injuries.

Approved by the UEFA Executive Committee on 3 May, the two amendments have now been incorporated into the competition regulations in line with requirements set by the Laws of the Game.

For goal-line technology, a new paragraph in Article 35 now clarifies that the decision whether to award a goal remains under the sole discretion of the referee and is final. Should the system fail, matches will take place or continue without the use of goal-line technology.

Regarding player injuries, Article 46bis has been added to the regulations and states that the referee will stop a game in the event of a suspected concussion, allowing the player to be assessed by their team doctor.

Any player suffering a head injury that requires assessment for potential concussion will only be allowed to continue playing after the assessment, upon confirmation by the team doctor to the referee of the player's fitness.

Furthermore, the 24 teams competing at EURO had already been informed of the following practical application of certain articles:

• The definition of fair play conduct in Article 18 has been rephrased to explain that average disciplinary points will be based only on yellow and red cards received, with a red card or expulsion for two yellow cards equalling three points, and a yellow card one point.
• Further to the Laws of the Game, and to Article 24, a match will be abandoned if there are fewer than seven players on either side, with the UEFA Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body to decide on the consequences.
• In relation to Article 53, UEFA has put in place a basis to enable national associations to commercialise the official UEFA badges on their UEFA EURO 2016 official replica shirts.

Note: In February, UEFA approved the modification of Article 21 which now states that each of the 24 participating teams is permitted to play a maximum of two friendly games against other EURO qualifiers providing they are not in the same final tournament group.