Is It High Time to Increase Elite Soccer Substitutions Permanently?

Abstract

Rules determine how team sport matches occur. Match-induced fatigue is specific to each sport, and may be associated with injury incidence. For example, the injury rate in soccer is distinctly higher during matches than in training sessions. Understanding the differences between team sports rules might be useful for enhancing rules (e.g., safer sport). Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the impact of the rule-induced physical demands between soccer, futsal, basketball, and handball, focusing on substitution rules. Data from the elite team sports’ rules (e.g., absolute and relative court dimensions; the number of players, substitutions allowed, total game time, time-outs) were collected, including the changes due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in soccer substitutions, and comparisons were performed. The data showed that soccer has higher rule-induced physical demands: e.g., substantially lower substitution rate, higher dimensions in absolute (eight to fifteen times), and relative (four to eight times) values. Simulations also showed that soccer has extremely large differences, even considering COVID-19 substitution changes (from three to up to five). We conclude that elite soccer has remarkably higher overall rule-induced physical demands than elite futsal, basketball and handball, and increasing soccer substitutions permanently (e.g., unlimited) might mitigate overall soccer demands.

Running Patterns in LaLiga Before and After Suspension of the Competition Due to COVID-19

“…Habitually, substitutes cover greater running distances than players who complete the entire match ( Bradley et al, 2014 ) which points toward a favourable outcome of the allowance of up to 5 substitutions to preserve running performance after the lockdown. In this regard, some authors have recently proposed keeping the increase in substitutions from three to up to five permanently, with the aim of mitigating overall soccer physical demands ( Mota et al, 2020 ). Interestingly, the time chosen for the first substitution did not vary after the lockdown (58 ± 3 min in 2018–2019 and 57 ± 2 min in 2019–2020 for the las 11 matchdays) and the time played by substitutes was similar (25 ± 2 min in 2018–2019 and 26 ± 1 min in 2019–2020 for the las 11 matchdays) suggesting that team managers do not anticipate substitutions despite possessing two more substitutions than before.…”

Change in Soccer Substitutions Rule Due to COVID-19: Why Only Five Substitutions?

“…A single soccer match causes fatigue, which is connected with significant match-induced inflammatory responses and muscle damage lasting at least 72 h post-match (Silva et al, 2018 ). Indeed, Souglis et al ( 2015 ) found greater inflammatory and muscle damage markers after soccer matches than other team sports, concluding that soccer is “the most demanding.” The laws of the game itself, especially the small number of substitutions allowed, is a major contributing factor to the high demands of soccer (Mota et al, 2020 ). Additionally, soccer has higher total physical demands measured by time-motion studies (e.g., running distances in high-speed), when compared to other team sports (Taylor et al, 2017 ), and an increase in soccer demands have been revealed over time (Barnes et al, 2014 ).…”

“…This is too few compared, for example, with other popular invasive team sports (e.g., handball), which can replace 100% of players, with substituted players allowed to re-enter the game. The increase in soccer substitutions due to the COVID-19 (five players) increases the percentage to ~21.7%, but it is still small considering the high physical demands (Mota et al, 2020 ). Additionally, the substituted player cannot return to the match in soccer, even in the case of serious injury.…”

“…Considering that injury risk are much higher during matches (vs. training) (López-Valenciano et al, 2020 ) and that the soccer match itself is very demanding (Silva et al, 2018 ; Harper et al, 2019 ; Mota et al, 2020 ), increasing the number of substitutions in elite soccer is a simple strategy to mitigate relevant concerns such as high injury rates and congested schedules, especially through the COVID-19 pandemic. Implementing more substitutions in elite soccer may result in benefits in player welfare and great entertainment for fans and sponsors.…”

“…Recently we showed that elite soccer has singularly higher overall rule-induced physical demands than other elite team sports, and changes in the substitutions rules might mitigate overall soccer demands (Mota et al, 2020 ). In March of 2020, soccer seasons were interrupted worldwide to avoid spreading the new coronavirus disease (COVID-19).…”