Clubs in France’s Ligue 1 and Ligue 2 will be allowed to make up to five substitutes per match for the 2020/21 campaign, the French League (LFP) confirmed on Friday.
This follows a string of top European leagues to have already made the announcement, after successes in the English Premier League, Spanish La Liga and German Bundesliga among others following the restarts of their divisions this summer.
The additional substitution allowance was due to fixture congestion, with most teams playing two games each week to get their domestic campaigns finished and in order for the Champions League and Europa League’s to resume later this month.
However, teams will only be allowed to make these changes during three occasions during play, as well as at the half-time interval. Teams from France’s top two divisions will also be allowed to name up to nine substitutes in their matchday squads, compared to seven previously.
France cancelled their 20192/0 season indefinitely and awarded runaway leaders Paris Saint-Germain the title on a points per game basis. The new season is set to start on Saturday 22 August, the day before the Champions League final, which PSG themselves could be involved in.
PSG are set to face Atalanta in the quarter-finals of the competition over in Lisbon Portugal on Wednesday 12 August.
How does this effect fantasy football?
This news, although no different from the other top European leagues, will likely make a huge difference in the 2020/21 fantasy football season.
Managers across the top divisions were able to rest their star players early in the second half after gaining a big lead, and essentially rest half of their outfield players with 20 or so minutes remaining at times.
So for those who rely on star players getting a late goal to add to their weekly points tally, may be left frustrated by the likes of Kylian Mbappe, Neymar and Dimitri Payet getting benched early in the second half.
The positives, as we saw with Mason Greenwood at Manchester United, Riqui Puig of Barcelona and Joshua Zirkzee at Bayern Munich in their restarted campaigns, was youngsters being given more game time.
Fantasy football managers may be able to find some hot bargains as the seasons progress with a number of youngsters being handed their debuts and opportunities to earn starting positions, whilst being at a cheap price to add to their team.
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