The World Handball Federation (IFH) will test three changes to the handball rules. They concern the passive attack, the situation in which the players hit the goalkeeper in the head with the ball, then the game 7 on 6. If these changes turn out to be useful for the handball game, they could come into force next summer.
As for the passive attack, the number of allowed passes from the moment the referees raise their hand will be reduced from six to four. Interestingly, in order to maximally punish a team that likes long attacks, even a situation where a defensive player blocks a shot and the ball returns to the attacker would be treated as a single pass.
The second rule is related to the situation in which a player hits the goalkeeper with the ball in the head. The referees will no longer award a red card to the attacker, but will be sanctioned with a two-minute suspension, regardless of the position and part of the court from which the shot was sent. The only exception to this rule is if the shot is sent under a foul.
The third, and perhaps the most interesting rule that could be introduced is indirectly related to the 7 on 6 game. When they receive a goal, the team will have the opportunity to start a new attack from three or four meters from the center of the field. In that case, teams that practice 7 on 6 attacks would be in big trouble, because the goalkeeper would have much less time to return to the goal, which would result in even easier punishment of possible mistakes of the attacker in the situation when they play with seven.
