FIFA could implement rule allowing only captains to speak to referees

The days of entire teams swarming around a referee to question a decision could be numbered. In an interview with BBC Sport, Marco van Basten revealed FIFA are discussing a rule change that would allow only team captains to speak with referees.
“There are a lot of players now who are complaining during a game,” Van Basten, FIFA’s chief technical development officer, said. It’s an unassailable point, really. Seemingly in every match, players are jawing at referees several times during the game. It’s a practice that FIFA are looking to curtail.
“I am sure the behavior of the players can be better — we are thinking about putting it back in the right direction.”

In the lead-up to this season, English football and the Premier League took steps to crack down on abusive players. Cautions and even red cards could be doled out if players swore at match officials, but the threat alone didn’t seem to be enough. If FIFA were to adopt a rugby-like approach where only captains could speak to officials, there should be a much more discernible line in the sand.
There’s an assumption that referees could call over non-captains for discussions as their discretion. The new rule would just prevent players from hounding officials that see a decision as cut-and-dry, not necessarily leave players powerless to plead their case.
There are still some kinks to iron out — like how officials would enforce infractions — but at face value, a rule change seems like a good idea.