Diving players to incur 2-match ban in FA clampdown

Players retrospectively found to have deceived a referee by diving can now be hit with a two-match suspension in a new crackdown by the Football Association.

The FA has assembled a panel consisting of an ex-referee, ex-manager, and ex-player to decide whether there's a "clear and overwhelming case" to charge a footballer that's won an unfair advantage, as reported by Reuters.

English football's governing body is already taking retrospective action on incidents not seen by the referee but caught on camera, so the attempts to reduce diving are simply an extension of that.

The initiative will be present in the Premier League and the English Football League, with the first matches under the radar being Sunderland's visit from Derby County and Nottingham Forest's hosting of Millwall on Friday, which is the Championship's opening day.

Diving is a regular talking point in English football, and came to the fore when Manchester City's Leroy Sane, Manchester United's Marcus Rashford, and Tottenham Hotspur's Harry Kane all won dubious penalty calls for their respective sides on April 30. The first two incidents were viewed as especially unpalatable due to them coming against sides that were fighting for Premier League survival in Middlesbrough and Swansea City.

In addition to the clampdown on players going unpunished for diving, those wrongly adjudged to have felled a player will see yellow and red cards rescinded.