The decision to make the option for five substitutes permanent has finally been ratified by the International Football Association Board. The decision comes two years after the start of the Covid-19 outbreak, which prompted leagues all over the world to let teams and coaches to use five substitutes instead of the usual three as they dealt with scheduling issues. Last season, many leagues chose to preserve this regulation, and the IFAB has now voted to make the option permanent for top-level events beginning in July 2022. The current rules, which limit substitutes to three substitution slots plus halftime, were also confirmed.
FIFA’s boss, Gianni Infantino, presided over the 136th Annual General Meeting (AGM) in Doha, Qatar, which was attended by representatives from FIFA, the FA, the Irish FA, the Scottish FA, the FA of Wales, and the IFAB administration. The committee also addressed continuing concussion substitution experiments, potential offside alternatives, and the most recent technical innovations to assist match officials. In addition, at the option of the tournament organizer, the members resolved to enhance the maximum number of designated substitutes indicated on the squad sheet from 12 to 15, implying that the World Cup roster could be expanded to 26 players per team when it begins in November.
Members, according to the official release, received a “The early results of the global study with more permanent concussion alternatives have been updated. Despite the fact that the trials comprise over 140 competitions, the AGM backed the ABM’s decision to extend the trial until August 2023 in order to collect enough data to make a scientifically sound judgment. Temporary concussion substitutes were reconsidered, but the members concluded that the trials should continue to focus on permanently withdrawing any player who has sustained an actual or potential concussion from the game in issue. It was acknowledged that more training is required to guarantee that the trial protocols are correctly implemented “..
FIFA updated the AGM on innovations that could allow more competitions to use video assistant referee (VAR) technology (VAR “Light”), which has been tested in over 100 games, as well as successful tests with systems to help video match officials determine offside situations more quickly and accurately (so-called “semi-automated offside technology”). According to the official announcement, a video support solution is also being studied for possible trial.
