Five-substitutes per match to remain in place until 2021 FIFA confirm - plus my personal reaction

Photo provided through Goal.com

Today FIFA confirmed that teams will be able to still make five-substitutions per match until August 2021

This sanction has been put in place because FIFA felt that due to “the impact of COVID-19 on competition calendars” clubs will be having matches “played in a condensed period”.

FIFA go on to state that teams would have “three opportunities to make substitutions” and verify that half time changes would not count in the opportunities.

The decisions to implement this rule will be up to “each competition holder” and there will be “constant review” of this rule throughout.

Photo provided through FIFA (Links to the official FIFA website article discussing the five subs per match decision)

So, what’s my personal reaction to this news?

Personally, I agree to extend the five substitutions per match rule until August 2021.

Firstly, its only temporary until 2021 due to the high amount of games to be played to catch up on the three months’ worth of missing football.

The implementation of the rule that there is only three opportunities to place on substitute players means its far harder to time waste, which could have been abused if this part of the rule wasn’t placed in.

Also, if players had to work more games in the time period, with only three substitutions, could have led to more player fatigue and injuries. I can’t imagine how Andy Carroll would have coped.

Photo provided through talkSPORT

One last point I want to mention is, that even though I agree its right to implement five substitutions per match until August 2021 because football calendars will have been affected heavily by coronavirus; I personally hope beyond 2021 the rule reverts back to three substitutions per game.

My reason for this is because 'elite' teams have larger squads they can call upon to affect the outcome of matches. In the football landscape it is already hard for small clubs to compete against the big clubs. Adding extra substitutions means 'elite' clubs can play even more world class players per match which makes it even more challenging for small clubs to compete.

Overall, on this occasion I agree with FIFA. Adding five substitution per match until August 2021 is a good rule to impose and will help players to be able to get through an intense and cramped next year.

It’s not everyday I agree with FIFA.