Geneva: FIFA has approved a large team of 26 people for the World Cup in Qatar and has decided to extend the laws of the game relaxation to assist coaches and players during the COVID-19 pandemic on Thursday.
This move was expected by the FIFA Bureau, which consists of the FIFA president and six coalitions of football, after the list of 23 players has been expanded for the recent Continental Championships.
Adding three players to the typical World Cup roster follows UEFA’s doing the same at last year’s European Championship.
There was a team of 28 people approved at the Copa America Tournament in South America last year and the Africa Cup of Nations in January.
The extra number helps coaches from 32 teams deal with the potential outbreak of viral cases. It also means that additional players are already following the health protocol in Qatar’s camp, rather than being brought from their home country.
The team resize will send a total of 96 additional players to the World Cup from November 21st to December 18th. The 28-day tournament will be compared to the 32-day tournament in Russia four years ago.
Most of the additional players could come from European clubs where the national season must be suspended by November 13 for the first World Cup to be held in the Northern Hemisphere winter.
World Cup teams can now use 5 alternatives instead of 3 in the regulation for 90 minutes.
What started as a provisional rule in 2020 to reduce the workload of players on crowded game schedules during a pandemic is now systematized in the Game Code.
The FIFA Bureau has also set up a presidential election on March 16th next year in Kigali, Rwanda, during the annual meeting of the 211 member federations.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino is seeking a new four-year term to extend football’s global leadership to 11 years.
No potential enemies have yet appeared, and the deadline for participation in the contest is four months before the election. It will be in mid-November, a few days before the World Cup begins.
