ZURICH: UEFA, European football’s governing body, introduced new rules for all its competitions in the future, which have been sanctioned by the International Football Association Board (IFAB).
The highlight of these being that teams are now allowed up to five substitutions and one of them will be permitted during injury time. This ensures that teams will have four stoppages of play at their disposal. This is likely to make contests more competitive and exciting.
In the Champions League and Europa League final notably, a team can list up to 12 substitutes on its team sheet as compared to the present number of 7, which otherwise has to be adhered to in the prior games.
The UEFA also confirmed that only small, mobile, hand-held equipment (for example, microphone, headphone, ear-piece, mobile phone/smartphone, smartwatch, tablet, laptop) may be used by team officials in the technical area for tactical or coaching purposes and to ensure player welfare.
