The rule will be able to become permanent. The International board (Ifab), guarantor of the laws of football, recommended Wednesday that each competition can opt without time limit for a passage to five substitutes instead of three, a measure adopted temporarily in 2020 against the backdrop of the Covid pandemic. 19.
This amendment to the “law 3” of football, usually providing for a maximum of three substitutions per match, was decided in May 2020 by Ifab and was to run until the end of 2021 for club competitions, and until the end of 2021. until July 31, 2022 for international meetings. In May, Ifab chose to extend the measure by a few months, until December 31, 2022, after a “global analysis of the current impact of Covid-19 on football”.
The temporary interruptions of many championships, when they were not purely and simply stopped during the 2019/2020 season, due to the pandemic, had led to a congestion of the calendar the following season, to catch up and allow the holding of tournaments such as Euro-2020, postponed to summer 2021.
The test on specific substitutes in the event of prolonged concussions
Not all competitions had opted for an increase in the number of substitutes, the Premier League being the most notable refractor, while the English League Cup allows 5 from the round of 16. The Ifab also suggested that the number of windows to make its changes remain the same: three interruptions in the game, plus half-time.
This measure is often criticized by “small” teams. The latter consider that it essentially favors the staff provided in quantity and quality.
In addition, the testing of two specific substitutes in the event of concussions should be extended beyond August 2022, because the low number of incidences does not yet allow reliable conclusions to be drawn, writes l. ‘Ifab. These decisions have yet to be presented and validated at the Ifab General Assembly to be held at the beginning of March in Zurich.
The International Federation (Fifa) holds four out of eight votes in Ifab decisions, the other four being the historic property of the English, Scottish, Welsh and Irish Federations.
