A blue card is set to be trialled out in professional football very soon as part of testing surrounding sin bin options.

Lawmakers from the International Football Association Board (Ifab) have signed off on the new card.

It will see players removed from the field for 10 minutes if they commit a cynical foul or show dissent towards a match official.

Blue cards have been used this season during a sin-bin trial in grassroots football in Wales, The Telegraph reports.

Watford Observer: The FA Cup could be a competition blue cards are trialled in next seasonThe FA Cup could be a competition blue cards are trialled in next season (Image: PA)

The colour was chosen over the likes of orange in order to differentiate it clearly from a yellow or red card.

How exactly will the blue card work in football?

Blue cards will be limited to fouls that prevent a promising attack or dissent towards match officials.

Following a player being shown a blue card they would have to leave the pitch for 10 minutes before being allowed to come back on.

A player would be shown a red card if they receive two blue cards during a match or a combination of yellow and blue.

Where will the blue card sin bin be tested?

Top-tier competitions will be excluded from initial testing in the professional game in case the protocols require further refinement, but elite trials could still begin as soon as the summer, The Telegraph says.

It is possible that the FA Cup and Women’s FA Cup will be competitions where the blue card is trialled next season.

Watford Observer: Two blue cards being issued to a player in a game would have the consequence of a red cardTwo blue cards being issued to a player in a game would have the consequence of a red card (Image: Nick Potts/PA Wire)

However, it will not be used in this summer’s European Championship or next season's Champions League after the president of Uefa, Aleksander Ceferin, said he was not in favour of the move.

However, Uefa could end up being forced to use them if trials lead to them being added to the laws of the game.

The trials have been fast-tracked amid dire warnings from Ifab’s leaders about player behaviour, of which they said: “This might be the cancer that kills football.”

Ifab’s annual business meeting decided that sin-bins were key to clamping down on this, as well as on any foul that prevents a promising attack but does not meet the threshold for a red card.

The new protocol will be announced officially on Friday (February 9), The Telegraph reports.