Football Substitution Rules: Five Subs, Three Windows and Concussion Replacements
For most of football's history teams could make only one or two changes. Today, coaches have five substitutions in most top competitions, and the bench has become a key tactical weapon.
How many substitutes can be used?
The Laws of the Game allow competitions to permit up to five substitutions per team in top-level football. The option was introduced temporarily in 2020 to help players cope with crowded fixture lists after the pandemic pause, and was made permanent in 2022. Most major leagues and tournaments now use it.
Competitions also decide how many substitutes can be named on the bench, commonly between 7 and 15 depending on the competition.
The three-window rule
To stop teams wasting time with many separate changes, five-substitution competitions limit each team to three substitution opportunities during the match. Changes made at half-time, before extra time or at the break between the two periods of extra time do not count as one of these opportunities. A team can therefore make two or three changes at once and still have windows left.
Extra time
If a match goes to extra time, each team usually receives one additional substitution and one additional substitution opportunity, whether or not they have used their earlier ones. Read more about extra time and penalties.
Concussion substitutes
Many competitions use additional permanent concussion substitutes. If a player has a suspected concussion, the team can replace them without using one of its normal substitutions, and the opposing team receives an extra substitution too, so no side gains an unfair advantage. The replaced player cannot return. The aim is to remove any pressure on medical staff to keep a possibly concussed player on the pitch.
How a substitution happens
- The team tells the fourth official, who displays the numbers on an electronic board.
- The substitution can only be made during a stoppage in play and with the referee's permission.
- The player being replaced must leave by the nearest point on the boundary line, unless the referee allows otherwise for safety reasons. This rule, added in 2019, reduces time-wasting.
- The substitute enters at the halfway line once the other player has left.
A player who has been replaced cannot return in professional football. In grassroots and youth football, competitions may allow "return substitutions", where players can come off and go back on.
Substitutes and discipline
Substitutes and substituted players remain under the referee's authority. They can be cautioned or sent off, even from the bench. A player sent off before kick-off can be replaced from the named substitutes; a player sent off after kick-off cannot be replaced.
Tactical use of the bench
- Fresh legs: replacing tired wingers or midfielders to keep pressing intensity high.
- Changing shape: adding an extra striker when chasing a goal, or an extra defender to protect a lead.
- Game management: late changes can slow the rhythm of a match when a team is ahead.
- Avoiding suspensions: taking off a player on a yellow card who risks a second.
On EHScore, every substitution appears in the Events tab with the minute and both players, and the Lineup tab lists the full bench.