Hockey rule changes from 1 November 2026: what the new FIH Rules change

Everything that changes on 1 November 2026

The FIH Rules of Hockey effective from 1 November 2026 change no core part of the game. The FIH describes this rules cycle as "clarifications, consistency of application and limited adjustments reflecting established practice", and it says it will avoid any major rule changes before the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. The changes that matter on match day are the cards, team officials, goalkeeper substitutions and the penalty corner.

The edition also expands the Terminology section, with definitions of "injector", "penalty corner protective equipment" and "team official", and removes the old Rule 9.1, which duplicated Rule 2.1. The FIH marks every changed passage with a line in the margin of the PDF.

Cards: no second green or yellow, and yellow is 5 or 10 minutes

From 1 November 2026, a player or team official cannot be shown the same card twice in a match. Rule 14.1 reads: "The same player or team official should not receive two green or two yellow cards during the same match, even for different types of offences." The next card must be of a higher category, so after a green card the only cards left are yellow and red, and after a yellow only red.

The March 2026 edition handled this in its umpiring guidance instead, and allowed the opposite. It said it was "possible, although umpires are not encouraged to do so, for a player to receive two green or two yellow cards for different minor offences", ruled out the same card only for a repeat of the same offence, and required a second yellow to be "significantly longer" than the first.

Five minutes or ten

Rule 14.1 now gives a yellow card as "5 or 10 minutes of playing time", and the umpiring section says what decides it: 5 minutes for a minor offence and 10 for a more serious or physical one. The FIH says this reflects established practice at international competitions. National associations remain free to vary the length of suspensions, in particular for yellow cards, and the FIH gives youth competitions with shorter match times as the example.

A card while suspended starts again

Rule 14.3 says misconduct while suspended "must be sanctioned with a higher-category personal penalty", and that "the duration of the new suspension starts from the time it is imposed; any remaining time of the previous suspension is not included." A player with 1:30 of a green card left who is shown a yellow serves the full yellow from then, not the yellow plus 1:30. There is one exception: a yellow intended to be 5 minutes may be extended to 10, and then the extra 5 minutes are added to the time still to serve.

The captain's team-offence cards do not count

Some cards are shown to the captain for a team offence: a yellow when a team has more players on the field than allowed and it materially affects the match (Rule 2.1), or a card for failing to control the team (Rule 3.4). Rule 14.1 leaves those cards out of the progression, so a captain who has had one for the team can still receive a green or yellow card for their own offence.

Keeping track at the table

Simple Online Counter's field hockey score counter is a free browser tool that keeps its data in the browser's local storage. Set to the November 2026 Rules, it refuses a second green or yellow for the same shirt number, restarts the time for a card shown during a suspension, extends a 5-minute yellow to 10 by adding 5, and times every suspension in playing time. A card entered without a shirt number, such as the captain's team-offence card, is counted but left out of the progression.

Team officials: a coach's card now costs a player

From 1 November 2026, a team official who receives a green or yellow card leaves their team one player short for the length of the suspension. The Rules now define a team official as "a person appointed by a team who is not a player and who is authorised to sit on the team bench, such as a head coach, team manager, physiotherapist and medical doctor", and say misconduct by one is treated the same way as misconduct by a player. The FIH's stated aim is to "strengthen discipline on the team benches".

A suspended official must stay in the designated place and must not coach, shout or carry out team duties (Rule 14.2). A red card means leaving the field and its surroundings, and the team plays the rest of the match with one fewer player (Rule 14.4). Competition regulations may add consequences beyond the match for a red card, and may treat red cards differently depending on the offence.

The NCAA column comes from the NCAA Field Hockey Rules Modifications, June 2026, Modification 6, which US college hockey plays alongside the FIH Rules.

Goalkeeper substitutions no longer stop time

Under the revised Rule 2.3, time is no longer stopped for a substitution involving a goalkeeper. The March 2026 edition said "time is stopped for any substitution involving goalkeepers". Now a goalkeeper can leave the field during play and be replaced, including by a field player, through the substitution area at the centre-line, like any other substitution.

Three details come with it. A goalkeeper still must not take part in play outside the 23-metres area they are defending (Rule 10.1). A team may still ask for time to be stopped for a goalkeeper substitution, and competitions with technical officials may require that request. And only when time is stopped may a goalkeeper replaced by a field player leave near the defending goal, going straight to the team bench.

Penalty corners: 40 seconds, an immediate injection and the bully

A penalty corner should be ready within about 40 seconds of the award. Rule 13.3 (a) says teams should take up their positions and put on protective equipment "without delay (as a guide up to 40 seconds)", and competition regulations may make a 40-second countdown clock mandatory and set consequences for missing it. Time and play stop on the award of a penalty corner, so those 40 seconds are not playing time.

The injector must push or hit the ball "immediately after the start of the penalty corner" (Rule 13.3 i). An injector who plays the ball before the start, does not play it immediately or feints is sent beyond the centre-line and replaced by another attacker, and the corner is taken again (Rule 13.6 b).

A bully now completes a penalty corner (Rule 13.5 g). The old provision after Rule 6.5, which required the corner to be taken again when play was stopped for a bully before it was completed, has gone. The FIH says this avoids unnecessary re-takes when the defence has legitimately defended the corner but play was stopped for an apparent infringement, which it had seen particularly in matches with a video umpire.

Rule 13.3 (n) now sets the penalty for taking part in play while still wearing corner protective equipment: a free hit to the opponents if it happens outside the circle, and a penalty corner if it happens inside it. The offence is taking part in play while wearing the equipment, not leaving the 23-metres area in it, which matches the approach for goalkeepers in Rule 10.1.

The smaller clarifications

• Flag-posts (Rule 1.9). Corner flags between 1.20 and 1.50 metres high may be placed at each corner. Regulations can still require them, for example at televised tournaments.
• Team benches (Rule 1.11). Benches for substitutes and team officials sit outside the field, along one side, as the indoor rules already said.
• Communication devices (Rule 4.6). "Players must not use or be equipped with any device to send or receive communication." The FIH says this writes down long-standing practice at international tournaments.
• Dangerous play (Rule 9.8). The offence happens where the danger arises. The exception: a ball deflected by a defender outside their circle that then endangers an attacker inside it is restarted with a free hit outside the circle, where the deflection happened.
• Free hits (Rules 13.2 b and f). An opponent who was within 5 metres when a free hit was taken may play the ball again only once 5 metres away, or once the ball has travelled 5 metres or been touched by a defender who can play it. The rule on an attacking free hit inside the 23-metres area entering the circle is reworded, including where the free hit goes if it is breached.
• Whistles (Rule 11.6). No extra whistle is needed to stop time for a penalty corner, because time stops on the award.

Already in force: the March 2026 changes

Several changes described online as "the 2026 rule changes" are not part of the November edition. They are in the edition effective 1 March 2026, which is the one in force until the November edition applies. Both editions carry 2026 dates, which is why the two are easily mixed up, and the file name of the November PDF even calls it the Rules of Hockey 2027.

So a club page or a search summary that lists the aerial ball and the goalkeeper's body under "new rules" is describing March, and one that dates the team-official cards or the end of second greens to March has the editions the wrong way round.

When the new rules apply

The November edition applies to international matches from 1 November 2026. "National Associations have discretion to decide the date of implementation at national level", so a national league can keep the March edition for the rest of its season. The FIH Executive Board requires the same Rules, and the FIH tournament regulations that vary them, at the top domestic league level, unless a national association has applied to the FIH to opt out of a particular rule.

This guide covers the outdoor Rules of Hockey only. Indoor hockey and Hockey5s have rules of their own, competition regulations may vary some provisions (the 40-second clock and video referrals are examples), and NCAA college hockey plays the FIH Rules with its own modifications. Check the competition's own regulations before relying on any one of these for a particular match.