Footballing teams will be allowed to make five substitutes in a match as a temporary fix to help the various leagues cope up with the congestion of games once the 2019-20 season restarts, FIFA have officially confirmed.
The statement released by the governing body of football read: “As football begins to consider resumption of competitions across the world following the COVID-19 pandemic, The International Football Association Board (The IFAB) has agreed to make a temporary amendment to the Laws of the Game based on a proposal received from FIFA seeking to protect player welfare.
“For competitions which have either started or are intended to start, but are scheduled to be completed by 31 December 2020, the IFAB has approved FIFA’s proposal to introduce a temporary amendment to Law 3 – The Players, which will allow for a maximum of five substitutes to be made per team.
“The temporary amendment comes into force with immediate effect and has been made as matches may be played in a condensed period in different weather conditions, both of which could have impacts on player welfare.
“The decision on whether to apply this temporary amendment will remain at the discretion of each individual competition organiser, while The IFAB and FIFA will determine at a later stage whether this temporary amendment would need to be extended further (e.g. for competitions due to be completed in 2021).”
But FIFA have also made it clear that each team will have only three opportunities to make these five substitutions so as to minimize the loss of time due to the added subs.
Apart from this, FIFA have also made it clear that if the leagues want they can do away with VAR once the 2019-20 season restarts in order to save time but if a particular league does intend to carry on with the tech, then they must abide by all of its former rules.
Have FIFA really made things easier?
There has been a lot of concerns over the congestion of games once the season gets back on track especially with big leagues like the EPL where 92 matches are still to be played.
There have been rumours that a team might have to play as many as three matches in one week, not including the various European and domestic cup competitions. So this clearly is a big headache for all the clubs, big and small.
But FIFA are making sure they take every possible step to ensure the leagues, as well as the clubs, have a smooth transition into the next season.
Apart from the five substitutions and the VAR rules, FIFA, a couple of weeks ago, had also made changes to the contract rules as well as the timing of the various transfer windows.
