Soccer’s lawmaking body calls for permanently expanding number of subs to 5

Sports Desk, Oct 27 (EFE).- The International Football Association Board (IFAB), soccer’s lawmaking body, said Wednesday that organizers of competitions should have the option to expand the number of substitutions permitted during a match from three to five on a permanent basis.

The recommendation emerged from a virtual meeting of IFAB’s Football and Technical Advisory Panels (FAP-TAP).

As leagues prepared to resume play in May 2020 after shutting down for Covid-19, IFAB approved a temporary amendment to the laws of the game allowing five substitutions in view of the additional stress on squads due to the pandemic and to the compression of competition schedules.

Six months ago, the IFAB Board of Directors signed off on extending the expansion to five subs through the end of 2022.

“Following a number of requests from confederations, associations, leagues and other key stakeholders for this option to be introduced permanently in the Laws of the Game, 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,” IFAB said.

With the exception of England’s Premier League, the major European leagues have stuck with five substitutions for the 2021-2022 season, which also remains in effect in the Europa League and the Champions League competitions.

The Premier League reverted to only three subs, spurring complaints from Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola and Liverpool’s Jürgen Klopp. EFE omm/dr