Football rules board approves permanent use of five substitutes

Football's rules body said that five substitutes would be permanently introduced for all top games and that a 3D offside detector is closer to being introduced for this year's World Cup.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino said the substitute change, which was started in 2020 because of the coronavirus pandemic, followed "strong support from the entire football community".

The system monitors 29 data points on the limbs of players to create a skeletal, three-dimensional model that is reviewed pitchside by the referee.

English Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham said that more than eight million data position points are recorded each match.

"We are very satisfied so far and our experts are looking into it before deciding whether it will be introduced for the World Cup," Infantino told a press conference.

It is officially known as "semi-automatic" as it will still be the referee that makes a final decision on an offside ruling.

FIFA is also looking into introducing a Video Assistant Referee 'light' with fewer cameras to a wider number of competitions.

VAR is currently only used at international tournaments and major national championships.

Tests on the less-tech heavy, cheaper system have already been held at 100 matches in Europe and will now be extended.

As well as making the five substitutes permanent, IFAB said that teams can now name 15 substitutes on a team sheet instead of 12.