This archive report was first published on 8 May 2020.
On May 8, 2020, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) announced a temporary change to the rules of football to protect player welfare.
The decision was made in response to the coronavirus pandemic, which has caused a significant backlog of fixtures in the sport.
According to the IFAB, teams will be allowed to make five substitutions during matches, but each team will only have three opportunities to make substitutions, in addition to at half-time or before extra time.
Competitions that allow an additional substitution in extra time will also have an additional substitution opportunity.
The previous limit on outfield substitutes for top-level competitions was three in regulation time.
The IFAB stated that the change had been made to account for the condensed period in which matches may be played, as well as the potential impacts on player welfare due to different weather conditions.
The decision on whether to apply this temporary amendment will remain at the discretion of each individual competition organiser.
It is expected that the measure could be maintained for the whole of the 2020-21 season and right through to the next European Championship, which was postponed by a year until June and July 2021 due to the pandemic.
