According to Football London, UEFA have confirmed that five substitutions will be allowed in the Champions League and Europe League when the competitions resume. Chelsea’s Champions League Round of 16 second leg against Bayern Munich will be played on August 7/8. The Blues are 3-0 down from the first match at Stamford Bridge which took place pre-pandemic.
When the matches do happen, teams will be allowed to use a maximum of five substitutions. The additional changes open up the possibility for managers to utilise their squads and offer fringe players more playing time.
But clubs can only add players who were already registered and eligible for the club since the last registration deadline. This would rule out clubs from registering newly-transferred players – in the case of Chelsea, this would prevent Hakim Ziyech from taking part in the second leg of the last-16 clash against Bayern Munich.
Commenting on the decisions, UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin, said:
“I am delighted that we are able to resume almost all of our competitions. I am confident that we will not have to endure the fans’ absence for long and that they will be allowed into stadiums sooner rather than later. UEFA took a bold decision when it decided to postpone EURO 2020. But in doing so, we created the space which has allowed domestic club competitions across the continent to resume, where possible, and play to a conclusion.
“While the game has suffered huge difficulties as a result of the pandemic, those blows would have landed much harder if we had not shown leadership in those early days. The football community has worked together and shown tremendous unity during this unprecedented crisis.
I would like to thank FIFA, our sister confederations, national associations, clubs, leagues, players and the relevant authorities for their continuous support and commitment and I am convinced that we come out of this crisis stronger and with closer links than ever before.”