Question Number: 15764

League Specific 6/12/2007

RE: pro Professional

vahid of rasht, gilan iran asks...

dear sir
my question is about futsal rules:
in during substitution , a player that have yellow card from out of substitution area leave the pitch and substitute enter to pitch from substitution area.referee stop play after advantage and show 2th yellow card to that player and send of him with red card.the restart of play is with how many players?(please attend to this matter that the substitute enter to the pitch and play 1 minute before that referee stop play.)

Answer provided by Referee Chuck Fleischer

If a player is sent off he is not replaced, Futsal and Football are the same in this. However after 2 minutes have elapsed things change.

A player who has been sent off may not re-enter the game in progress, nor may he sit on the substitutes? bench as he must leave the vicinity of the field of play. A substitute player may enter the pitch two complete minutes after a team-mate has been sent off, unless a goal is scored before the two minutes have elapsed, and provided he has the authorization of the timekeeper. In this case the following apply:

if there are five players against four and the team with the greater number of players scores a goal, the team with only four players may be completed by a fifth player;

if both teams are playing with four players and a goal is scored, both teams remain with the same number of players;

if there are five players playing against three, or four against three and the team with the greater number of players scores a goal, the team with three players may be increased by one more player only;

if both teams are playing with three players and a goal is scored, both teams remain with the same number of players;

if the team scoring the goal is the one with fewer players, the game continues without changing the number of players.

As I am only familiar with Futsal from reading the Laws and comparing them to how the Football Laws are interpreted my conclusion is this:

The penalty for one of your side being sent-off is playing with a reduced number of players for two minutes. So in your case after sending-off and showing the red card the two minute penalty begins.

Regards,