June 3 – As football begins to consider resumption of competitions across the world following the COVID-19 pandemic, the new five substitution rule officially kicked in on June 1.
The game’s lawmakers, the International Football Association Board (The IFAB), last month agreed to make a temporary amendment based on a proposal received from FIFA seeking to protect player welfare.
Leagues will now be able to give their teams the option to use a maximum of five substitutes instead of three to help cope with likely fixture congestion in a packed calendar.
The subs have to be made on no more than three occasions plus at half-time, designed to remove the incentive to do so purely for time-wasting purposes. A sixth change may also be permitted in matches that go to extra time.
While the measure is intended to be temporary, it could be maintained for the whole of the 2020-21 season and right through to the next European Championship, which was postponed by a year until June and July 2021 because of the pandemic.
It remains to be seen if the move will be left in place permanently, but doing so may play into the hands of the wealthiest clubs with the largest squads and greatest strength in depth.
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