Finished the list of 23! FIFA has increased the maximum number of players for each selection at the 2022 World Cup to 26, it announced on Thursday, continuing this “flexibility” measure introduced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Between 23 and 26 players can now make the final listwrote the international federation in a press release.
FIFA explained that it had adopted this measure in view of dealing with the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic and the unusual period in which the World Cup will take placenamely in November-December and not during the summer, which will have the consequence of interrupting the season for soccer clubs in Europe.
UEFA had already adopted a similar enlargement of the lists last year before the Euro, in the face of the risks of contamination with COVID-19 and quarantine which threatened to depopulate the workforce, an unprecedented measure since the national teams had passed from 22 to 23 players in the 2001 Confederations Cup.
The European coaches were nevertheless divided on this measure which, if it offered them more sporting choices, also posed new problems in terms of management of the workforce and the egos for the less used players.
England coach Gareth Southgate had estimated that picking 23 players is a skill to be valued for a coach, while Luis Enrique, boss of the Spanish team, had preferred to be content with calling 24 players for the Euro.
This expansion of the lists to 26 names for the 2022 World Cup comes as the International Board (IFAB), the body responsible for soccer laws, has definitively validated in mid-June the principle of five possible replacements per team and per match, against three previously.
This amendment to the law 3 football had been decided by the IFAB in May 2020, in the context of the pandemic, and was to run until the end of 2021 for club competitions and until July 31, 2022 for international matches.
The measure had been extended until December 31, 2022 after a global analysis of the current impact of COVID-19 on soccer.
The IFAB members have also decided to increase the maximum number of substitutes on the match sheet from 12 to 15 at the discretion of the competition organizersthereby opening the way to lists of 26 players, and no longer 23 (11 regular players and 15 substitutes).
In total, a maximum of 26 people (up to 15 substitutes and 11 officials, including the team doctor) will be allowed to sit on the bench during the World Cup, FIFA also specifies Thursday in its press release.
France Media Agency
Source: Radio-Canada
