FIFA will keep all five changes until August 2021

The International Board, body that governs the rules of football, has approved keeping the possibility of making five changes per game for next season. The reason is the tight schedule of the 2020/2021 campaign that will have to be condensed in fewer months than usual and with this measure it is expected to protect the physical integrity of the players and maintain the level of the matches.

This measure is no surprise, since Infantino, president of FIFA, announced that they were studying this route last week to protect footballers: “We have to be very careful with the health of the players. So there is a proposal on the five substitutions. “ An initiative that Ronaldo, president of Valladolid, invited to carry out: “I like the option of maintaining the five changes. In LaLiga we can put three or four players from the subsidiary in the first team, so it is a great opportunity for the players”.

The extension of this measure must be approved and carried out by each competition. The five changes can be used, between turns at most to avoid wasting time, until July 2021 in the case of domestic competitions and until August 2021 in the case of international competitions. That is to say, This measure may be applied to the next Eurocup and Copa América.

This is the IFAB statement:

“Following the decision made on May 8, 2020 to give competitions scheduled to complete in 2020 the option to allow teams to use up to five substitutes, the IFAB Board of Directors agreed to review whether to extend this option further. On the basis for this in-depth review, which included comments from stakeholders and an analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on competition schedules, IFAB's Board of Directors has extended the option to competitions scheduled to complete before July 31, 2021 and to international competitions scheduled for July / August 2021.

The main reason for the temporary amendment to Law 3 – Players It was the impact on the player's well-being of the competitions that are played in a condensed period and in different climatic conditions. The recent review has shown that the reasons for the temporary amendment remain valid and the impact on player welfare is likely to continue into 2021 due to various factors, including:

-Some competitions that resumed in 2020 may have a shorter recovery / preparation period than usual before the start of their next season.

-For many competitions, the 2020/21 season will involve matches that are played in a condensed period due to a delayed start and the inability to finish later than usual due to major international tournaments.

There are no changes in the details of the temporary amendment to the Laws of the Game, which will allow the use of a maximum of five substitutes per team. However, to avoid interruptions in the game, each team will only have three opportunities to make substitutions, although substitutions made at halftime are not counted as one of the three opportunities.

The decision to apply this temporary amendment is left to the discretion of each competition organizer. The changing impact of the pandemic on football will be constantly reviewed to ensure that appropriate action is taken in the future regarding this temporary amendment. “