The law of five replacements is a long-term one. Introduced due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the principle of five changes per team and per match, instead of three, has been “definitively validated” by the International board. The guarantor of football rules announced his decision on Monday in Doha (Qatar).
The first amendment concerning “Law 3” had been decided in May 2020 and was supposed to run until the end of 2021 for club competitions and until July 31, 2022 for international meetings. The measure had been extended until December 31, 2022 after a “global analysis of the current impact of Covid-19 on football”.
In October 2021, the Ifab had left the choice to the various leagues to adopt it or not. The Premier League, for example, opposed it before reintroducing this rule for next season. The Laws of the Game guardian also “decided to increase the maximum number of substitutes on the match sheet from 12 to 15 at the discretion of the competition organisers”.
Beyond the number of substitutes, the semi-automatic detection of offside was discussed by Gianni Infantino, President of Fifa. According to him, the evolution of this technology “continues” and “is so far very satisfactory”. “Our experts will analyze this before deciding whether we use it at the World Cup or not,” Infantino added after the 136th annual general meeting of the Ifab.
Semi-automatic detection should speed up decision-making. It relies on the cameras used for television broadcasting as well as specific cameras and gives the exact position of the players on the field.