Premier League reverts back to three sub rule following club vote

Credit: Laurence Griffiths/NMC P/PA Wire/PA Images

The Premier League will revert back to using three substitutes following a meeting between representatives from the competition and its clubs.

As a result of the announcement for the 2020/21 campaign, which has been confirmed to commence on September 12, substitute benches will only feature seven players. The news follows FIFA’s decision to allow competitions to use five substitutions if the competition deems it important to do so.

FIFA has allowed the rule to be implemented until August 2021 which means that the system can still be used for the upcoming European Championships and Copa America next summer.

However, Premier League clubs have voted against using the substitute rule which was imposed when the 2019/20 campaign resumed in June following its postponement.

VAR was also discussed during the Premier League Stakeholders meeting with clubs unanimously voting to continue implementing the system, in line with the full FIFA VAR protocol. This means that officials will be encouraged more-frequently to use the pitch-side monitors available before making final decisions over an incident.  

According to the Daily Mail, the Premier League’s three promoted teams, Leeds, West Brom and Fulham, were among the clubs to have voted against keeping the substitution rule. 

However, the website reports that Chelsea backed the decision to continue with five substitutions for the upcoming season. As league rules state 14 clubs must vote in favour of the decision for the action to be approved.

As of right now there has been no confirmation as to whether the EFL will continue to use five substitutes for its upcoming campaigns. Despite the Championship resuming, League 1 and League 2 had to conclude its regular season through a points per game basis with only play-off matches being completed to ensure there was still promotion and relegation in the football league system.

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