Five substitutions in football

Welcome to the Chris Farnell news blog. Legal changes affecting the game happen all the time, however sometimes they are more important than others. Here we will discussed the recent changes brought in to the beautiful game. Football law makers have recommended five substitutions are implemented permanently in the sport. Find out more here. 

The rule was first introduced by the International Football Association Board (Ifab),in May 2020 - a month before football restarted after being paused because of the Covid-19 pandemic. The Premier League voted against its continuation in the 2020-21 season.

Individual football leagues and competitions will be able to decide whether or not to take on the new rules. The decision by them follows a meeting chaired by Fifa on Wednesday, involving Ifab's Football and Technical Advisory Panels. This is an interesting development. 

The Ifab commented: 

"FAP-TAP today recommended that competitions should be able to decide on increasing the number of substitutes according to the needs of their football environment, while the current number of substitution opportunities should stay the same."

The law makers said it follows "a number of requests from confederations, associations, leagues and other key stakeholders for this option to be introduced permanently". Many Premier League sides are believed to have felt having five subs would unfairly benefit major clubs with stronger squads.

However, some leading managers, including Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp and Manchester City's Pep Guardiola, have previously said the limit on changes has contributed to injury problems. As a sports lawyer, this is something to monitor closely. 

Chris Farnell advises leading Premier League and Football League Clubs, leading sporting and media agents and a number of high profile sporting individuals on a wide variety of matters. To find out more about Chris Farnell from IPS Law online. You can also follow him on the Chris Farnell Facebook page.