High school soccer head coaches will face increased responsibility for sideline conduct under new rules that allow officials to warn, caution or eject coaches for misconduct committed by their bench personnel.
The change highlighting head coach accountability is among six rules modifications approved by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Board of Directors following recommendations from the NFHS Soccer Rules Committee during its February meeting in Indianapolis.
"Head coaches have a high degree of responsibility for their team areas and bench behavior and are to be held accountable now that officials are allowed to warn, caution or eject head coaches for misconduct committed by bench personnel," said Gibby Reynolds, Soccer Rules Committee chair and Oregon School Activities Association administrator. "This change promotes a culture of respect and positive behavior on the sidelines."
The committee also restricted communication with officials during game breaks. Under revised Rule 7-2-4, only team captains may approach or speak to officials between periods unless beckoned by an official. Violations result in yellow cards for the offending individual.
Other changes include allowing team substitutions during temporary game suspensions, such as water breaks in hot weather. Rule 3-3-2 was modified to clarify that players must leave the field when beckoned by officials for injury evaluation, regardless of why the clock stopped.
Officials also clarified uniform numbering requirements, allowing required numbers to appear on jerseys, shorts or both under Rule 4-1-2.
The rules committee eliminated Rule 18, which contained definitions, integrating relevant terms into corresponding rule sections while removing outdated language.
"By integrating Rule 18's terms and definitions directly into their corresponding rule sections, we continue this effort – eliminating redundancy, resolving potential conflicts and ensuring consistency," said Julie Cochran, NFHS director of sports.
The complete rules changes are available at NFHS.org under "Activities & Sports." The 2025-26 Soccer Rules Book is available for purchase at NFHS.com, with the digital version available in the NFHS Digital app. TSSAA head coaches receive free access to the digital rules book and are briefed annually on rules changes through mandatory rules clinics.
Soccer ranks as the fifth-most popular boys sport with 467,483 participants in 12,754 schools and third among girls with 383,895 participants at 12,307 schools, according to the most recent NFHS participation survey.
