UEFA have introduced fresh changes that will apply across their three club competitions next season.
According to Mundo Deportivo, European governing body has told all associations and clubs about two significant tweaks to the Champions League, the Europa League and the Conference League for the new campaign.
The first stands out because it reshapes the card system in the group stage of all three competitions.
Under the current rules, players and technical staff pick up a one-match ban from the group stage onwards after collecting three yellow cards that don't lead to a sending-off. A further ban then follows for each subsequent individual yellow, meaning the fifth, seventh, ninth and so on.
Last season's switch to the league phase system pushed the number of matches at this stage from six to eight per team in both the Champions League and the Europa League. That shifted the ratio of cards to games, ramping up the risk of suspension through accumulated yellows.
So, from this season, the minimum threshold for a ban rises from three to four yellow cards. Every subsequent suspension will still kick in after two more yellows, as before. That means the sixth, eighth and tenth cards. With players free to sign for clubs in different competitions during the winter window, the same measure now covers the Conference League too.
The new Article 63.2 in the regulations of the Champions League, the Europa League and the Conference League reads as follows: "Starting from the first match of the league phase, players and members of the technical staff are suspended from the following match of the competition after receiving four yellow cards that did not result in a red card, as well as after any subsequent yellow card number six or eight, etc."
Stadium clocks and added time
The other change targets stadium clocks. Until now, match organisers couldn't display the elapsed time once the original period of each half had run out, nor during extra time.
It's an old rule from an era when fans couldn't follow matches live in the stadium on mobile devices, and images in the technical areas around the pitch were banned.
Years of technological and regulatory progress have left that rule behind. To bring the framework into line with the modern reality, UEFA have reworded the standard clause across all their competition regulations to read: "Stadium clocks may be used to indicate the elapsed time or the remaining time."
It previously stated: "Provided that they stop at the end of the original time of each half, i.e. after 45 and 90 minutes respectively. This clause also applies in the case of extra time (i.e. after 105 and 120 minutes)."
The rule now says: "The added time for each half must be indicated by the additional minutes, and not as continuous playing time (i.e. 45 + x, 90 + y). The same applies in the case of extra time (105 + x, 120 + y)."