Premier League clubs have been given the green light to have five substitutes for all of next season.
Lawmakers International Football Association Board have ruled the “condensed” 2020/21 campaign may leave many leagues facing another crammed fixture list and have extended five subs until July 31.
They will also allow it for “international competitions scheduled in July/August 2021” which means it could also be used in the Euros to ease the strain on players suffering from fatigue with so many games in a shorter space of time.
Premier League bosses adopted the five sub rule for the end of the 2019/20 season with 16 clubs in favour but it will be put to another vote on July 24 to see whether they will use it into next year.
There have already been dissenting voices among smaller clubs as they claim it gives the big clubs an unfair advantage at being able to bring on better substitutes and change the game.
Burnley boss Sean Dyche has been one of those to oppose the rule, and he said last month: "I think a lot of it for a lot of teams will be the state of the game - if you're Man City and you're 2-0 up against 10 men, you might make five subs to rest legs, because you know true fitness is not quite there yet.
"You might make a tactical five to hold a game or win a game, I think there's loads of different ways of looking at it.
"It wasn't for me, I don't think we should be changing the rules of the game. It quite obviously favours the big squads, and we haven't got a big squad, so I don't think we needed to change the rules."
Crystal Palace boss Roy Hodgson insists even though his club voted for it this time then they should oppose it next and it will take 14 votes to get it through which could be an obstacle.
Hodgson said: “It’s not fair across the board, everyone can see that. The bigger teams with bigger squads, much more quality to choose from within their squads, they are advantaged by it.
“Because, of course, they are sitting there looking at players who would probably get into most of their opponent’s teams as a starting player, and for them they are on the bench.
“From our point of view, we voted for the five subs, because I think it’s the right thing to do. If we were to vote selfishly next time around, I’d suggest the club vote for less than five because it’s very unlikely our squad next season will rival Man City, Liverpool, Tottenham, Arsenal, Man Utd etc.”
