FIFA wants to let football teams use five substitutes to cope with expected schedule congestion caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The game’s governing body says the temporary plan could help prevent more injuries due to potential player overload as competitions catch up with a backlog.
The proposal gives competition organisers the option of letting teams use five substitutes in 90 minutes and a sixth in knockout games that go to extra time. Teams would still be limited to three stoppages of play to make the changes.
The proposal, which could be used by all competitions finishing this year and the next and all national team games through 2021, must be formally approved by rule-making panel IFAB.
