Sports Media

Rule Changes

Serenity Liessmann / Soccer / June 5, 2020

With the pandemic, the International Football Association Board (IFAB) has allowed rule changes for the 2019-2020 season. It ranges from substitutions to VAR (video-assisted refereeing) usage.

Premier League had a meeting on Thursday that concluded that they will be using the new substitution rule. Instead of three substitutions, they will now be allowed to have five per game.

FIFA had appealed to IFAB to change the rules for the rest of the season. Since the games are condensed in the summer months, they wanted to ensure that players could rest.

This has also allowed teams to have a maximum of nine substitutions on the bench instead of seven.

Teams will have three opportunities in the games to make substitutions, as well as half-time. This will prevent any unnecessary stoppage time. Also, if there is extra-time in the game, substitutions will be allowed to roll over.

Similarly, the rule changes have been made for La Liga and Bundesliga.

Leagues will also be able to choose if VAR will still play a factor in games. The rule changes will affect play for the rest of the season. There will be a later meeting to discuss if the changes will continue into next season.