Five substitutions in football? Soon to be fixed in the rules, leagues will be allowed to choose

This came at the same time as the first thoughts of resuming football competitions after the first blow of the coronavirus pandemic. The ability to substitute up to five players per game was originally intended to be a temporary help in the demanding post-coaching programme, but most clubs and officials liked it so much that it will most likely soon be in the rules permanently.

It was the possible enshrinement of the possibility of up to five substitutions that was the main item on the agenda of Wednesday’s meeting of the football and technical section of the International Football Association Board (IFAB). During the meeting, it was decided to make a recommendation towards the rules committee to adopt the change permanently.

However, it would not be a one-size-fits-all regulation, but rather each individual competition would have the right to choose the maximum number of player substitutions that can take place during a match.

The Premier League, for example, very quickly reverted to just three possible substitutions in the starting line-up after recovering from the effects of the pandemic, when 10 clubs, i.e. half of the participants, blocked the extension of five substitutions.

However, in the vast majority of other major European competitions, including the Champions League itself, they are allowed to send just up to five substitutes on the pitch, and by all indications, a good number of them would remain there.

For now, however, the rule is still only in force for those leagues and cups that end no later than the last day of 2022, effectively after this season.

“In May this year, in view of the continuing effects of the Covid-19 pandemic on football worldwide, the IFAB management approved the extension of the temporary modification of the substitution rule, introduced in May 2020, which gave all domestic leagues and international competitions the option to decide to allow up to five substitutions,” the IFAB statement read.

“Given that we have been asked by a large number of confederations, associations and individual competitions about the permanent introduction of five substitutions into the rules of football with effect from the 2022/23 season, we have decided today to recommend to the Rules Committee to do so, allowing each body to make its own decision on this matter, with the number of breaks for making substitutions remaining at the current three plus half-time.”

This recommendation is likely to be finally confirmed in March, but will be discussed at the next IFAB meeting within the next month.

And what else was discussed during Wednesday’s meeting? For example, the position of goalkeepers during penalty kicks, namely that they should stand firmly on the line when the ball is played, but should they have one foot behind it, no penalty should await them.

Similarly, the trial of an additional substitution in the event of a head injury came under scrutiny, which was started in January and a consensus was found that the trial period should be extended to August 2022 in order to obtain more data.

And a proposal from the South American football confederation CONMEBOL, which would like to extend half-time breaks from a quarter of an hour straight to 25 minutes, was also addressed. However, a number of IFAB members were not too keen on it, as it could lead to, for example, players’ muscles stiffening due to their long periods of inactivity.

Source: The Athletic