Official: Premier League Approves Expanded Substitutions and Matchday Squads

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When the Premier League returns, it will be with five substitutes and a nine-man bench.

Premier League football returns in two weeks, but between the games taking place behind closed doors and plans to use FIFA 20 stadium noise to provide atmosphere, it won’t be the same football we saw before coronavirus put the world on hold.

In addition to those previously announced changes, today the league confirmed that teams will be allowed both additional substitutions and a larger matchday squad, with five subs allowed instead of three and a nine on the bench rather than seven.

“For the remainder of the 2019-20 season, the number of substitutes that can be used during a match will increase from three to five [and] the maximum number of substitute players on the bench from seven to nine,” read a league statement.

In line with earlier announcements from the International Football Association Board and following on from what has been seen in Germany following the Bundesliga’s restart, managers are expected to be limited to three substitution windows.

That means that while five players can be brought on in any given match, a manager will only have three opportunities to make those changes in an effort to prevent games being overly delayed by additional breaks in play for player substitutions.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com