Commissioner For A Day: Let’s Have More Indirect Free Kicks In The Box

One quirk of soccer is that the rules of the game change when the ball is in the box. Not massively, but in one small and crucial way: Because a foul in the box is punished with a penalty, things that would be fouls anywhere else on the field are occasionally just not called in the box.

Maybe you like this! My colleague Luis Paez-Pumar does not. He wants some softer fouls in the box to be punished not with penalties but by giving teams an indirect free kick in the box. Fortunately, I have the power to make him Commissioner for a Day so he can make that rule change.

Usually, the only indirect free kicks in the box come after the goalkeeper has accidentally picked up a back pass. Under Commissioner Paez-Pumar—the title of FIFA President has been changed for one day, as well—there will be many more indirect free kicks in the box, as the result of softer fouls that aren’t worthy of a penalty.

Think of all the chaos this will cause! Plus, I bet a lot of people would hate any changes to the rules like this. As such, I am all for it.