It’s time to follow NEW RULES!
EIGHT CHANGES FOR SKY BLUES AND THEIR RIVALS TO GET TO GRIPS WITH THIS SEASON
COVENTRY City kick off their 2020-21 season at the weekend when they take on MK Dons in the first round of the Carabao Cup.
The sides will meet at Stadium mk on Saturday with Mark Robins’ Sky Blues getting their Championship campaign under way the following weekend, away to Bristol City.
The season officially started last Saturday when Stoke City took on Blackpool in the Carabao Cup.
And there have been some rule changes that Coventry and their EFL counterparts will need to know about they get started.
We have picked out eight changes, which are detailed below...
Back to seven subs – three available
Championship clubs were permitted to name nine substitutes for the final nine games of last term, using five.
It was felt that teams needed extra flexibility to limit injuries after only three weeks to prepare for the return of football after a three-month lay-off due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Premier League and EFL have now voted to bring that back down to seven named and three used for this campaign.
A little known snippet from the EFL rulebook during behind closed doors games: “Not more than three players of each club may warm up or warm down at the same time on the perimeter of the pitch on which the match is being played.”
No drinks breaks
The re-start was over June and July so the powers that be wanted to be prepared for hot and humid conditions. Drinks breaks were introduced for midway through both halves.
They won’t be required now.
Live streams at 3pm on Saturdays
Behind closed doors games until at least October has prompted clubs, broadcasters and the EFL to allow all games to be live streamed if they are not shown on television.
That includes matches at 3pm on Saturdays, which has always been subject to a blanket ban to protect the allure of going to games.
Maximum squad size
Clubs in the Championship, like in the Premier League, will have to name a squad size with a maximum 25 players after the close of the transfer window. That includes a minimum eight ‘home grown’ players – that means players who have been registered with any English or Welsh club for a continuous period of at least 36 months prior to his 21st birthday.
In League One and League Two that squad size is reduced to 22.
This rule excludes players who were aged under 21 on January 1, 2020.
Clubs have to name a minimum seven home grown players on each team sheet too for league matches.
Change to EFL’S Profit and Sustainability checking
Clubs in the Championship last week approved proposals to amend the Profit and Sustainability regula
tions. As a result of these Financial Fair Play amendments, clubs will now report on a four-year period that covers 2017/18-2020/21 instead of three years 2017/18-2019/20.
However, years three and four will be assessed together with the total Adjusted Earning Before Tax from both periods averaged into one reporting period.
Extension to transfer window
The transfer window started late so it will finish late too – and go beyond the start of the league season.
The deadline for international deals is Monday, October 5 and the deadline for domestic deals is Friday, October 16.
Clarification to the handball rule
The boundary between the shoulder
and arm is now defined as ‘the bottom of the armpit’.
The laws of the game add: “‘Accidental’ handball by an attacking player (or team-mate) is only penalised if it occurs ‘immediately’ before a goal or clear goal-scoring opportunity.”
Penalty rules tightened up
Here is the new guidance for referees. An offence by the goalkeeper is not penalised if a penalty kick misses the goal or rebounds from the goal (without a touch from the goalkeeper) unless the offence clearly affected the kicker.
The goalkeeper is warned for the first offence.
It is a yellow card for any further offence(s).
The kicker is penalised if the goalkeeper and the kicker offend at exactly the same time.