No video assistance for soccer match referee next season

Football's rule-making body IFAB, the International FA Board, decided not to test the use of video replays to assist match officials for at least another year on Saturday.

The Dutch federation has been testing technology where officials watching on television could feed live information to referees but there now won't be official trials.

FIFA is cautious about allowing technology to help decide on such decisions as red cards and penalties.

The Dutch Football Association had proposed testing the technology in next season's Dutch Cup, but the IFAB announced at its annual general meeting in Belfast that it wants more information before sanctioning an experiment.

IFAB also said that it had agreed in principle to cancel the automatical suspension in the next match for a player who concedes a penalty and is sent off for denying a goal-scoring opportunity.

The IFAB also approved the use of return substitutions, allowing players who have been substituted to return to the pitch, in recreational football.

The IFAB consists of four representatives from the British football associations (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland) and four representatives from FIFA, each of whom has equal voting rights. Endi