Introduced In May Of Last Year, IFAB Proposes Rule 5 Substitutions To Be Permanent

Illustration of substitutions (Twitter @TheIFAB)

JAKARTA - The International Football Association Board (IFAB), which determines the rules of the game, suggested that the regulation of five substitutions be made permanent.

The rules were first introduced in May 2020, a month before football restarted after being suspended due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The rule allows teams to use five substitutes instead of three to protect players in tight fixtures.

The English Premier League has rejected the rule to continue in the 2020-21 season.

Football leagues and competitions will be able to decide whether or not to apply the rules.

"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, while the current number of substitution opportunities (three plus first half) should remain the same," IFAB said in a statement, quoted Antara from Reuters on Thursday.

IFAB said it followed "a number of requests from the confederations, associations, leagues and other key stakeholders for this option to be introduced permanently."

Many Premier League teams are believed to feel that five substitutions would be more favorable to big clubs with stronger squads.

However, several high-profile club coaches, including Liverpool's Jurgen Klopp and Manchester City's Pep Guardiola, have previously said the substitution limit had contributed to injury problems.