FIFA, the international governing body of association football, has introduced a new change in the game’s rules that will allow for teams to stay fresh during the ramped-up schedules that will become common after leagues get back underway due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
FIFA has announced that, until the end of the calendar year 2020, teams will be allowed to make five substitutions per match. This is an increase over the three substitutions that have traditionally been allowed per team, per match.
This increase in the number of available substitutions is meant to keep players fresh and injury-free as they begin to play more games due to the compressed schedules caused by the absence of games since early March in most leagues.
Soccer leagues are slowly beginning to formulate plans to return to action, with major leagues such as Germany’s Bundesliga and Spain’s La Liga planning to return in May or June.
Leagues will be forced to play at least two games per week during the summer in order to accommodate the number of games that will need to be completed. This, in combination with higher summer temperatures, would make it difficult for the three substitution rule to be realistic.
So, FIFA will grant teams some extra flexibility and allow them to make this change in order to keep their players fresher until things get back to normal.
