Zurich: The International Football Association Board (The IFAB), in the light of coronavirus pandemic, has agreed to introduce a temporary amendment, allowing for a maximum of five substitutes to be made per team.
"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. However, to avoid disruption to the game, each team will only have three opportunities to make substitutions; substitutions may also be made at half-time," the FIFA said in a statement.
The temporary change in the rules has been brought in to protect players' fitness when competitions come back after football across the world was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
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.
The Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) however has officially announced it will propose the possibility of allowing teams to make five substitutions per game if football returns in the country.
