Three Premier League rule changes this season including substitutes and added time

The new Premier League season is kicking off on Friday with Manchester United hosting Fulham at Old Trafford. Unlike recent campaigns, there are only a few rule changes for fans to get to grips with.

Minor tweaks to what substitutes are allowed to do, how added time is calculated and exceptions to the multiball system are nevertheless important to understand ahead of the opening weekend.

Here, Express Sport takes you through the three tweaks in question…

Substitutions

More than four years have passed since the number of permitted substitutes per game was increased from three to five by the Premier League. However, other related rules have been slower to catch up.

Up until 2024/25, managers were only able to send three players out to warm up down the touchline at any one time. That has now been upped to five, corresponding to the maximum number of players a team can bring on simultaneously.

Added time

Referees have piled stoppage time onto the end of matches in recent years as part of an effort to clamp down on time wasting. That resulted in almost 12 minutes added across both halves, on average, in the early part of last season, which was significantly up from the seven-minute average in the five prior campaigns.

The Premier League have now taken a decision which will bring that figure down again. From 2024/25 onwards, officials will only begin adding stoppage time when the celebrations for a goal exceed 30 seconds, allowing a natural amount of time for both teams to take their starting positions.

The Premier League’s official website explains: “Given that there were 3.28 goals scored per match last season on average, this change may result in a significant drop in stoppage time this season.”

Multiball rules

Premier League games use 15 balls stationed on cones around the pitch to maintain a fast tempo. If a ball goes out of play and is not quickly retrievable, players are encouraged to find a replacement ball from a cone rather than waiting for one of the ball assistants to return it.

The ball assistant’s job is to return the original ball to a vacant cone. An exception has been introduced this season, however, which allows ball assistants stationed behind the goal to return the ball to a goalkeeper taking the restart.

It remains the case that any coach or manager attempting to delay play by holding the ball in the technical area or kicking it away will be given a straight red card.