The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed that the five substitutes rule has been adopted for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) in Cameroon.
This means teams will be allowed to make changes three times during a game, with unused substitutions carried over to extra time.
The 2021 AFCON will officially kick off today, January 9, 2021, when hosts Cameroon take on Burkina Faso in the opening game.
In a statement, CAF also announced that when matches travel into extra, the teams will be allowed an extra substitution.
“Each team will be permitted to use a maximum of five substitutes. To reduce disruption to the match, each team will have a maximum of three opportunities to make substitutions during the game; substitutions may also be made at half-time,” CAF said.
“If both teams make a substitution at the same time, this will count as one of the three opportunities for each team. Unused substitutions and opportunities are carried forward into extra time.
“Where extra time is played, teams will each be allowed one additional substitution, and will have one additional substitution opportunity; substitutions may also be made before the start of extra time and at half-time in extra time.”
Meanwhile, the camps of some teams have been disrupted by COVID-19 cases, with as many as 15 players returning positive tests.
Gabon captain Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Senegal’s Edouard Mendy are among those who have tested positive for COVID-19 on the eve of the tournament.
CAF, though, maintains that all games will go on as scheduled if the teams have a minimum of 11 players available, while those that cannot meet the number will automatically forfeit the game 2-0 to their opponents.
