The International Football Assocation and Board have recommended that five substitutes are to be used across all levels of football.
IFAB Advises Five Substitutes on a Permanent Basis Including in Premier League
Temporary Measure Set to Become Permanent
Due to coronavirus heavily disrupting football schedules, five substitutes were allowed to ease the burden on squads with players returning to fitness.
Many leagues across Europe chose to continue using five substitutes. But the Premier League was the outlier. They quickly scrapped the measure, choosing to revert to three subs. Five subs were still allowed in the FA cup, Carabao cup and of course in the Champions and Europa League.
Now IFAB has listened to calls from various leagues, confederations, associations to keep the rule in place. They have advised that this should be the norm going forward.
How Does It Affect the Game?
Disruptions are minimised since the five substitutions can be made across three stoppages. This does not include half time. So teams will not be able to time waste by bringing on five players at five separate times.
There are some concerns that the new subs ruling favours big clubs with deep squads. Now the giants can bring on five quality players off the bench to change half the outfield players.
But the five subs rule is put in place to protect players with their increasingly congested schedules.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has previously spoken out on the importance of having more subs: “Premier League players have 47 per cent more muscular injuries than the previous season due to a lack of preparation, and the amount of games.“
Players such as Thibaut Courtois have already made their stance known on the sheer number of games that they must play in a season.
Courtois said: “It’s a bad thing that players are not spoken about. And now you hear about a European Championship and a World Cup every year, when will we get a rest? Never.”
Good for the Players and for the Fans Too
It is clear that having more rules in place to protect players is key if top stars are to perform at their highest levels. This can only be a good thing for fans who love seeing the likes of Harry Kane banging in goals for club and country. Kane is an example of a player who has been constantly called on by England and Tottenham season after season. Yet again he appears to feel the effects with a sluggish start to the Premier League.
Having extra substitutions means that managers can afford more room to change personnel late on. There is less of a danger of creating those pre-season scenarios where teams seize up in the second halves with too many substitutions. No manager would want to create too much change at once and unbalance their side.
Instead, fans can reap the benefits of seeing more players coming off the bench to try to make an impact on the game. It takes another step towards a revved up, all-action style of football that moves away from the quintessential barebones football of yesteryear.
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