MLS creates “anti-wax” rule and celebrates first results; understand | mls

Major League Soccer (MLS) decided to innovate and create a rule to reduce earwax during games. Implemented in the 10th round of the North American championship, the new guideline aims to save time on substitutions and provides punishments for offending teams during matches.

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The “anti-wax” rule provides for a maximum time of ten seconds for the substituted player to leave the field. If the player messes up and goes above this ceiling, there will be a punishment for the team.

The offender’s team will be without the player who would have entered for one minute or until the ball comes out again.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), MLS announced the success of the change, which debuted in the championship in the 10th round. According to the tournament organization, there were 114 substitutions and none of them took more than ten seconds for the player to leave, that is, without punishment.

— The Timed Substitution rule, a sporting innovation in MLS that requires players to leave the field within 10 seconds during a substitution, was implemented for the first time in the 10th round. Of the 114 substitutions last weekend, there was no official violation of this rule — says the publication below, in free translation.

The rules were as follows:

• If a player remains lying on the ground for more than 15 seconds, a medical team will enter the field to evaluate him and escort him off the field;
• This athlete will have to leave the field and wait three minutes to return to the game. The exception will be for blows to the head, serious injuries or heart problems;
• A player who is suspended for a game after receiving a red card will have to serve the suspension against the same team against which he was sent off.

At the end of that season, the rules were reevaluated and are not included in the regulations for the 2024 MLS main championship.