Premier League to start IFAB's concussion substitutes trial from 6th February

While reports indicated in September that football has been looking to introduce concussion substitutes, a severe injury to Raul Jimenez and David Luiz saw the IFAB create trials. That saw the Athletic, in October, reveal that the Premier League was looking to introduce the trials for concussion substitutes that the IFAB had created by January. However, a slight delay and various other issues have seen that been pushed to February 6th.

The Premier League confirmed that in a statement released yesterday, where they revealed that they had “successfully applied to the International Football Association Board (IFAB)” to introduce the trials in England. They will take place from the 6th of February in the Premier League the FA Women’s Super League and the FA Women’s Championship. Not only that, the statement revealed that it will be used in the fifth round of the FA Cup between 9th and 11th of February.

“The Football Association and the Premier League have successfully applied to the International Football Association Board (IFAB) to introduce additional permanent concussion substitution trials across the Premier League, Barclays FA Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship and Emirates FA Cup,” reads the statement on the Premier League’s website.

"The dates for the introduction of the trials include:

- Premier League: from 6 February 2021

- Barclays FA Women’s Super League and FA Women’s Championship: from 6 February 2021

- Emirates FA Cup: from the Fifth Round, 9-11 February 2021

“With player welfare the 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 has 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 actual or suspected concussion."