Official: Five substitutes will also be allowed in the 2020-21 season

The football calendar has suffered due to the Coronavirus pandemic. Almost all the football leagues were suspended from March to May. So this gap of 3 months has resulted in teams playing two matches a week instead of the previous one match per weekend.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) has introduced a few rules in this post-COVID-19 era to protect the players. They introduced a five-substitute rule instead of the previous three. It was done to protect players from getting injured as they will play so often in such a short amount of time.

Now, as the 2019-20 season is nearing its end and the 2020-21 season is coming forward IFAB has officially announced that the five-substitutes rule will be valid for the next season too.

Five-substitute option extended into 2021 in response to COVID-19 pandemic
➡️https://t.co/geULA8ZvSn pic.twitter.com/UxSRg6dAvU

— FIFA Media (@fifamedia) July 15, 2020

IFAB released an official statement. They wrote that they have come to this conclusion due to these reasons:

• Some competitions which resumed in 2020 may have a shorter-than-usual recovery/preparation period before the start of their next season.
• For many competitions, the 2020/21 season will involve matches being played in a condensed period due to a delayed start and the inability to end later than usual because of major international tournaments.

They also said in the official statement: “Each team will only have three opportunities to make substitutions, although substitutions made at half-time are not counted as one of the three opportunities.”

“The decision on whether to apply this temporary amendment remains at the discretion of each competition organiser.”

This amendment has been extended to cover all league competitions ending on or before 31st July 2021. International competitions scheduled for July and August of 2021 have also been taken into account, including Euro 2020.

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