Premier League clubs vote against use of five substitutes next season

Clubs were allowed to increase the number of substitutes from three per match when the 2019-20 season restarted in June following a three-month hiatus due to the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.

The change was made in a bid to help teams battling possible fixture congestion as they tried to complete the season in a short period of time.

But the maximum number of substitutes will now revert back to three in the 2020-21 campaign after a vote on Thursday.

A statement from the Premier League said: "At the Premier League’s Annual General Meeting today, Shareholders agreed to rules relating to VAR and substitute players for the 2020/21 season.

"Shareholders unanimously approved the implementation of VAR, in line with the full FIFA VAR protocol. Clubs also agreed to revert back to using up to three substitute players per match, with a maximum of seven substitutes on the bench."

There had been concerns that sticking with five substitutes would favour clubs with greater squad depth.

The International Football Association Board (IFAB) said last month that teams could continue to use up to five substitutes next season, but left it up to individual federations and leagues to decide if they wanted to adopt the rule.

The decision to use FIFA's VAR protocol means there will be slight changes to VAR next season, with the system having previously been controlled by IFAB.

FIFA wants to institute a uniform approach to VAR across countries and competitions, so that the laws of the game are implemented in the same way across the world.

Most notably there will be an increased use of the pitchside monitors and stricter regulations on goalkeepers moving off their lines for penalties and encroachment from players outside the box.