The use of extra substitutes in matches, a change to long-standing soccer tradition brought about by the coronavirus pandemic, was formally written into the sport’s rules Monday, only five months before the start of this year’s World Cup in Qatar.
Under the revision to soccer’s purposely brief rule book, the Laws of the Game, approved by its rule-making body, the International Football Association Board (IFAB), coaches at this year’s tournament – and in any other competition – will be allowed to use as many as five substitutes a game instead of three.
The expansion already had been in place on a temporary basis, introduced in 2020 and framed as an effort to protect the physical and mental health of players. But it had been widely adopted in domestic leagues around the world and by top competitions such as the Champions League, and praised by coaches who welcomed the tactical flexibility it offered. Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel, for example, called the change “brilliant” for big teams and small ones alike.
Making it permanent sets the stage for another change: FIFA now can expand rosters for the tournament, to 26 players instead of the former limit of 23.
Both of Monday’s decisions mean that, for the third straight cycle, the World Cup will kick off with a major rules change: Goal-line technology made its debut at the 2014 World Cup in Brazil, and the replay system known as video-assistant review was approved in time for the 2018 tournament in Russia.
The use of five substitutes was approved by IFAB as a temporary measure in 2020. At the time, leagues were rushing back into a compressed schedules of matches – sometimes in the heat of midsummer and without their customary pre-seasons – as they scrambled to make up games and fulfill multimillion-dollar television contracts.
But the temporary measure has been retained in many of the world’s top leagues, and like their club colleagues, national team coaches – welcoming the flexibility and options the extra subs and bigger rosters will offer in the biggest event on the soccer calendar – are expected to agree with the change being made permanent.
Club coaches may favour it, too, especially if it eases the strain on their top players even in modest ways: To accommodate the summer heat in Qatar, this year’s World Cup was moved to the winter months, meaning it will arrive in the midst of most club seasons and put an added hardship on elite players already weary from soccer’s nearly nonstop schedule since the game’s pandemic pause in 2020.
Added substitutes are now common from Europe to leagues such as Major League Soccer in the United States. The Premier League – which used five subs initially and then reverted to three subs the past two seasons – will make the change back to five beginning with its coming season.
Expanded rosters are also not new. Europe’s governing body allowed teams to name 26-player rosters for last summer’s European Championship, and South American officials approved 28-man teams for last summer’s Copa América in Brazil. In those cases, coaches were still allowed to name only 23 players to their active rosters for each game. But the decision to allow game-day rosters to include 15 subs instead of 12 will give coaches wiggle room at the time when the coronavirus could still decimate a team in a matter of days.
Delia leaves NYCFC for Standard Liege
NEW YORK – Ronny Delia left MLS champion New York City FC on Monday to become coach of Belgium’s Standard Liege, and assistant coach Nick Cushing was named the interim coach. Cushing, a 37-year-old from England, becomes the fifth coach of the team in eight seasons. Previous coaches were Jason Kreis (2015), Patrick Vieira (2016-18), Dominic Torrent (2018-19) and Delia (2020-22). Cushing spent 2013-20 as coach of the women’s team at Manchester City, which, like NYCFC, is owned by City Football Group. He takes over NYCFC with the team in first place in the Eastern Conference with 26 points after 13 games, one point ahead of Philadelphia. NYCFC is the fourth team of the league’s 28 teams to change coaches this season. San Jose’s Matias Almeyda was fired on April 18, D.C.’s Hernan Losada on April 20 and Charlotte’s Miguel Angel Ramirez on May 31.
FIFA bans player for 18 months for same substance as Valieva
GENEVA – FIFA banned Ivory Coast goalkeeper Sylvain Gbohouo for 18 months on Monday in a doping case involving the same substance that Russian figure skater Kamila Valieva tested positive for ahead of the Beijing Olympics. Gbohouo tested positive for trimetazidine in connection with Ivory Coast’s World Cup qualifying game against Cameroon last November, which it lost 1-0. The FIFA ruling said the player was prescribed a medication for an eye disorder last year to “improve his retinal blood flow” and it contained trimetazidine dihydrochloride. Trimetazidine is also a heart medication that lawyers for Valieva said her grandfather was taking and that she accidentally ingested weeks before the Beijing Games in February. Then at the age of 15, Valieva was allowed to compete in Beijing pending a full investigation of her positive test by the Russian anti-doping agency, which is ongoing. She placed fourth at the Olympics after a mistake-filled free skate program. A key element in both the Valieva and Gbohouo investigations is judging the responsibility and blame athletes must accept for a positive test, and the possible role of their team medical staff. The FIFA disciplinary committee decided Gbohouo had no intention to improve his performance by cheating and should not serve a full four-year ban.
Erling Haaland completes move to Man City
MANCHESTER, England – Erling Haaland has come home. The Norway striker finalized his move to Manchester City from Borussia Dortmund for €60-million ($80.5-million) on Monday to seal his return to England, the country of his birth. His father, Alf-Inge, played for and briefly captained City in the Premier League from 2000-03 and Erling supported the team as a kid, often going to Maine Road – the club’s former home – with his mother to watch his father play. He has posted on social media pictures of himself wearing a City jersey as a young boy. Haaland, regarded as one of the world’s top young players along with Kylian Mbappé, is joining on a five-year deal. City activated the release clause in Haaland’s Dortmund contract and looks to be getting a superstar on the cheap. Former England striker Gary Lineker called the signing of Haaland a “seminal moment for the Premier League.” Haaland has scored 20 goals in 21 appearances for Norway and netted 86 goals in 89 games in two and a half seasons with Dortmund. Before that, he was at Molde in Norway and then Salzburg in Austria, where he initially grabbed the attention of Europe’s major clubs thanks to
With reports from The Associated Press