The principle of five changes per team and per “high-level” match instead of three, introduced following the Covid pandemic, was “definitively validated” by the International board (Ifab), guarantor of football laws, on Monday in Doha (Qatar).
The evaluation of the semi-automatic offside detection, which Fifa plans to use during the World Cup in Qatar from November 21 to December 18, “continues” and “is very satisfactory so far”, also specified its president Gianni Infantino, at the end of the 136th annual general meeting of Ifab.
“Our experts will analyze this before deciding whether we use it at the World Cup or not,” added Infantino, while Pierluigi Collina, chairman of the Fifa Referees Committee, said he was “confident” when for use during the tournament.
The semi-automatic technology promoted by Fifa should make it possible to speed up decision-making. It relies on the cameras that are used for television broadcasting as well as specific cameras and gives the exact position of the players on the field, providing the referees with precise information in a few seconds.
Ifab members have also “decided to increase the maximum number of substitutes on the match sheet from 12 to 15 at the discretion of the competition organizers”, it is specified in a press release.
In October 2021, the guardian of the laws of the game had left the choice to each competition to adopt the five changes per game or not.
This amendment to football’s “Law 3”, usually providing for a maximum of three substitutions per match, was decided in May 2020 by Ifab and was 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 following a “global analysis of the current impact of Covid-19 on football”.
Not all competitions had opted for an increase in the number of substitutes, with the Premier League being the most notable defaulters.
