The English Premier League Football Association decided today to temporarily allow five substitutions for each team in every match, in addition to the presence of nine players on the bench, instead of seven, when the season resumes in mid-June.
"For the remainder of the 2019-2020 season, the number of changes that each team can make during the match will be increased from 3 to 5," the association said in a statement, noting that this measure "is in line with the temporary amendments to the regulations approved by (Federation Council)" IFAP ") last month."
The association explained that the coaches have to make these substitutions only three times, as a maximum during the course of the match or during the break, so as not to cause a lot of extra time. The league matches will resume on the 17th of this month with two postponed matches that bring together Manchester City champions Arsenal and Aston Villa in Sheffield United, with the remaining nine stages (90 games) to be completed before the end of next July.
To mitigate the effects of these compressed programs, especially after three months of stopping due to the emerging Corona virus and only three weeks of friction training, FIFA has proposed increasing the number of replacements, which IFAP has endorsed.
The English Premier League went even further, by accepting Chelsea's request to raise the number of players registered in the game sheet from 18 to 20 players, until the end of the season only. This proposal saw opposition from small clubs that it considered were in the interest of the big, star-studded clubs. But the result of the vote, as reported by the British media, revealed the approval of 16 clubs in exchange for four objections.
According to British media, the League has not decided the fate of the league in the event of a final cessation. The League had hoped to adopt a principle of ranking on the basis of points in each match while maintaining the system of relegation-ascending. But the issue sparked great controversy, which prompted her most likely not to make a decision on anything as long as the season could last until the end of it.