IFAB amends Law Three – teams now allowed to make five substitutes

Sikhumbuzo Moyo, Senior Sports Reporter
THE International Football Association Board (IFAB) has provisionally amended Law Three of the game to allow teams to make five substitutes from three with immediate effect to cope with return of action due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

However, the new amendment will only be for competitions that are set to end in December this year, but it’s up to individual competitions whether to adopt it or not.

“The IFAB has agreed to make temporary amendment to the Laws of the Game based on a proposal received from Fifa seeking to protect player welfare. For competitions, which have either started or are intended to start, but are scheduled to be completed by December 31, 2020, the IFAB has approved Fifa’s proposal to introduce a temporary amendment to Law Three, which will allow for a maximum of five substitutes to be made per team.

“However, to avoid disruption to the game, each team will only have three opportunities to make substitutions; substitutes may also be made at half time. The temporary amendment comes into force with immediate effect and has been made as matches may be played in a condensed period on different weather conditions both of which could have impact on player welfare,” the IFAB said in a statement.

It said together with Fifa, they will determine at a later stage whether the temporary amendment would need to be extended further to include competitions that will be completed in 2021.

If the latter is agreed to, the Zimbabwe league, whose games are yet to start and are likely to finish in 2021, might also find itself using five substitutes when the season finally gets underway around August or September.

The IFAB is the board that determines the laws of the game of association football. It was founded in 1886 to agree standardised laws for international competition and has acted as the guardian of internationally used laws.

It is made up of five members, four British football associations (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland, Wales) and Fifa, who represent the other football associations.

Fifa joined IFAB in 1913.