EFL clubs can use five substitutes for the rest of season

THE English Football League has confirmed five substitutes will be allowed across all divisions from the next round of fixtures.

The game’s law-making body, the International Football Association Board, announced in July that the five replacements rule would be extended into 2020-21 - but that it would be up to competitions whether they adopted it.

The Premier League is the only top division in Europe which does not allow teams five changes in a match during the current campaign, with Champions League, Europa League and international fixtures also permitting five substitutes.

The proposal has twice failed to secure the 14-club majority needed to be adopted for the new season, after a vote to use five subs during the final two months of the delayed 2019-20 campaign was supported.

Premier League chief executive Richard Masters confirmed he was not expecting a change when he gave evidence at a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee session last week.

Nevertheless, the EFL announced yesterday a motion in support of additional substitutes to be used had been passed by the board. Under the new regulations - which come into force from November 20 in time for Coventry’s Championship match against Birmingham and the Friday League Two fixture between Mansfield and Colchestert - teams in the Championship will be able to make five changes from a pool of nine substitutes. For League One and League Two, any five from seven will be permitted. The current EFL board directives are set to expire at the end of February 2021, with a proposal expected to formalise the changes until the end of the current campaign.