Premier League stakeholders have agreed to begin a trial period for concussion substitutions.
Concerns are growing about the impact of head injuries and concussions on football players. Therefore, the Premier League has taken an important step to secure their health and safety. The English top-flight will allow teams to make two concussion-related changes regardless of how many substitutions were previously made.
“Premier League Shareholders today formally agreed to introduce the International Football Association Board’s (IFAB) additional permanent concussion substitutions trial,” read the statement.
However, the beginning of the trial period is yet to be discussed. Additionally, the involved officials are yet to sort out all of the required details.
“The trial will be confirmed when the implementation of the reporting processes, including private medical information, has been resolved with IFAB and FIFA. With player welfare the Premier League’s priority, the protocols will allow a maximum of two concussion substitutes to be used per team, with the opposition side able to use the equivalent number.”
“The additional concussion substitutions may be made regardless of the number of substitutions a team have made already.”
“The trial is a result of the IFAB’s consultation with stakeholders and recommendations from their concussion expert group to allow additional substitutions for players with an actual or suspected concussion.”
This decision has been under analysis since December after a horrific head collision between David Luiz and Raul Jimenez. The situation instantly raised discussion about player safety. Moreover, former Tottenham player Jan Vertonghen recently confessed to having played with sequels of concussion for nine months.
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