Only captains will be allowed to approach referees during Premier League matches from next season.
The top flight is set to adopt new guidelines - approved by the games law-makers, the International Football Association Board IFAB , in March - that state only one player from each team, usually the captain, is allowed the approach the match official.
Under the regulations, referees can instruct players not to approach them, and show yellow cards to those who do so without permission and behave in a disrespectful manner.
In the event that a teams captain is a goalkeeper, clubs will provide an alternative representative before kick-off.
This does not, though, prevent players from speaking to referees at other points during games.