Scottish Premiership clubs have been warned to expect a World Cup-style crackdown on timewasting as the new season begins this weekend.
Head of Refereeing Willie Collum has met with 11 top-flight clubs over the summer and will complete his tour with a visit to Dundee United ahead of their opening match against Rangers on Friday.
New substitution rules
Players being substituted in standard circumstances will have only ten seconds to leave the pitch. If a player is deemed to deliberately delay, his replacement will not be allowed to enter the field immediately. Instead, the offending team must play with ten men for at least one minute, and only after that until the next break in play.
Injury and throw-in regulations
Any player requiring injury treatment must go to the sideline for a minimum of one minute. Referees will also monitor throw-in time closely, issuing yellow cards to players who take longer than five seconds to return the ball to play.
VAR adjustments
VAR will now be able to overturn some yellow cards if the video assistant believes the referee punished the wrong player in a coming together. However, Scottish football will not adopt FIFA's rule that saw red cards for players covering their mouths while confronting opponents.
Collum stated that the new rules have been positively received by the top-flight clubs and are expected to reduce the amount of injury time added by officials after 90 minutes.
