Rule changes coming to high school soccer in 2025

The high school game of soccer is going to look a little different moving forward.

In conjunction with each other, the Iowa High School Athletic Association and the Iowa Girls High School Athletic Union agreed to several changes for the upcoming season and beyond.

“It’s been talked about for years,” Newton head boys soccer coach Zach Jensen said. “We had a feeling it maybe was going to come to fruition. It’s been a long time coming. It’s finally changes for the good.”

Most of the changes are for the better, according to Jensen. But the Cardinal coach doesn’t like everything.

Some of the bigger changes include no more overtimes for regular-season matches, a continuous clock in the first half, weather delay guidance and the elimination of players having to sit out for five minutes following a yellow card.

No overtimes will be permitted for any regular-season match at any level and matches will now end in draws if the match is tied at the end of regulation.

The only exception is with bracketed tournaments that require a team to advance to the next round. Those matches will go directly to penalty kicks after regulation.

Postseason matches will be unchanged with overtime policy. The postseason will feature two sudden victory overtimes and penalty kicks to determine the winner. There will be two 10-minute overtime periods followed by penalty kicks.

Jensen grew up around purists of the game of soccer and is OK with draws. He just doesn’t know how they will be judged and handled come postseason time.

He also feels like, depending on the situation, a draw could feel like a win or a loss.

“I’m on the same thought process where I like ties,” Jensen said. “You tie in pro soccer. You get two points for a win, one point for a tie and no points for a loss. The college game has it, too.

“I played nine double overtime/shootout games my senior year at Johnston. That’s a lot of minutes on the body. The pros are only playing one game a week. It might also help us with our referee shortage. They don’t get paid to stick around for overtime. It might help them want to do it. They know how long they will be somewhere.”

In the past, matches ended in the second half when the margin reached 10 goals. The new rule states there will be a continuous clock in the first half when the margin reaches 10 goals.

It will remain a continuous clock until the score falls under 10 goals or halftime arrives. The 10-goal mercy rule remains the same in the second half.

If there’s a weather delay during a postseason match, no match may be started or restarted any time after three hours past the original start time. For example, a postseason match scheduled to start at 7 p.m. may not start or resume after 10 p.m.

Teams and officials also may mutually agree to end the match if there’s a team leading during the delay.

“There needs to be an actual set of guidelines,” Jensen said. “In college, if a team is up 1-0 after the 70th minute, it wins the match. I think there needs to be a set guideline to decide winners.”

The adaptation of players sitting out five minutes after receiving a yellow card is now eliminated.

A cautioned player shall leave the field and may be replaced. Should a team with a cautioned player elect to play short-handed, the cautioned player may not re-enter nor be replaced until the next substitution opportunity.

“I like the direction it’s going,” Jensen said. “It used to be 10 minutes when I played, which was stupid. It then went to five, which was also dumb. I think the coaches should be able to dictate when they need to take a player out. I can tell when I need to pull my player out of the game.”

The IHSAA also made a few changes that weren’t made jointly with the IGHSAU. These include the number of matches permitted in a season and a requirement of two 40-minute halves for all matches.

Schools are now permitted to play 17 matches per level. This replaces the policy of 15 dates, which may include two tournaments. The 17 matches per season now aligns with the IGHSAU.

Schools also can no longer play 30-minute halves during tournaments. All varsity matches are required to be played with two 40-minute halves unless the 10-goal mercy rule is in effect.

The final adjustment to the rules involves how many halves a player can play in one day. The old rule of playing a maximum of six halves in a day has been reduced to four. The maximum amount of halves a team can play in one day is four, too.

“We are playing way too many games right now,” Jensen said. “I don’t like that number of games in two months. They need to expand the season to more than two months if they allow us to play 17 matches.”

While Jensen is happy with the changes for the most part, he still wants a few more things considered for the future.

He wants to be able to coach his players at open gyms during the offseason and would like a change to the substitution rules.

“Kids pay money to be in clubs and those kids who are playing all year round are getting coached by someone,” Jensen said. “It’s a lot of money. A lot of our kids aren’t being coached. We are trying to help our kids.

“We have unlimited substitutions right now. The purist game of soccer is free-flowing. Coaches can sub right now to kill time late in matches. I’m guilty of it. It’s not a rule now so we do that. But I think we need to have a substitution rule. I’m not against it and not super picky about that one though. It is high school sports after all.”

Colfax-Mingo starts its own girls soccer program this spring. Head coach Zach Tomas didn’t get to experience the previous rules so he doesn’t yet know what to think.

He likes the running clock in the first half change but is not fond of not playing overtime until the postseason and liked the five-minute yellow card sit out the way it was.

“I don’t like not going to overtime or penalty kicks because athletes don’t have the opportunity to experience those scenarios until the postseason unless you have an in-season tournament,” Tomas said. “I understand the five-minute yellow card sit out rule was probably an administrative nightmare. I think it’s good that kids still have to come out of the game and can’t go back in until a substitution opportunity.”