UEFA had already adopted a similar measure last year before the European Championship in the face of the risk of contagion by covid-19 and quarantines that threatened to reduce the number of players, an unprecedented measure since the teams went from 22 to 23 players in the Cup of the Confederations 2001.
15 substitutes on the bench
The European teams, however, had not been entirely adept at this measure, since although it offers a greater number of options for coaches, it poses problems regarding the management of groups and the egos of less used players.
The Spanish coach Luis Enrique, for example, was content to call 24 players for the European Championship.
This expansion of the rosters to 26 players for the 2022 World Cup, which will be played in November and December, occurs after the International Board (IFAB), the body that guarantees football laws, validated “definitively” in mid-June the principle of five possible changes per team and per game, for the previous three.
This amendment to football “law 3” was decided by the IFAB in May 2020, in the context of the pandemic, and was to be extended until the end of 2021 for club competitions and until July 31, 2022 for matches. international.
The measure had been extended until December 31, 2022 after “a global analysis of the current impact of covid-19 on football.”
The members of the IFAB also decided to increase the maximum number of substitutes on the match sheet “from 12 to 15 at the decision of the organizers of the competitions”, opening the way to rosters of 26 players.
“A maximum of 26 people will be able to sit on the bench (up to fifteen substitutes and eleven members of the coaching staff, one of whom will be the team doctor)“During the World Cup, FIFA specified this Thursday in its statement.