World Football governing body, FIFA, have approved a temporary rule change which will allow five subs per match, while also the halting of VAR for a period of time.
RTE report that proposals to allow an additional two substitutes which were put forward by FIFA in order protect player welfare owing to Covid 19. The International Football Association Board approved the new rules changes. FIFA released a statement with the news, “As football begins to consider resumption of competitions across the world following the Covid-19 pandemic, the International Football Association Board (The IFAB) has agreed to make a temporary amendment to the laws of the game based on a proposal received from FIFA seeking to protect player welfare”.
It continued, “For competitions which have either started or are intended to start, but are scheduled to be completed by 31 December 2020, the IFAB has approved FIFA’s proposal to introduce a temporary amendment to Law 3 – The Players, which will allow for a maximum of five substitutes to be made per team”.
“The decision on whether to apply this temporary amendment will remain at the discretion of each individual competition organiser, while The IFAB and FIFA will determine at a later stage whether this temporary amendment would need to be extended further (e.g. for competitions due to be completed in 2021).
In the closing of the statement, “In relation to competitions in which the video assistant referee (VAR) system is implemented, these competitions are permitted to cease its use upon restart at the discretion of each individual competition organiser. “However, where VAR is used, all aspects of the laws of the game and, by extension, the VAR protocol will remain in place.”
