Swansea City head coach Vitor Matos says match officials will need time to adapt to a raft of new rules designed to speed up football, after his side's 1-0 EFL Cup first-round defeat to Birmingham City. The loss at the Swansea.com Stadium came during Swansea's first competitive outing under the 2026-27 season's revised regulations, which include a five-second countdown on throw-ins and goal-kicks. Matos said the officials had a lot of new information to process while trying to enforce the changes consistently.
It's interesting because the rules somehow are quite hard for the refs as well to apply.
I think the reason behind the rules is clear, it is to make the game faster for everyone and I think that's good.
I understand that it's hard for the referees with so much information at the same time and then trying to apply the rules in the best way possible.
What new rules were introduced this season?
The Championship's governing body has brought in several measures aimed at increasing the tempo of matches for 2026-27. Under the new system, an
