Absa Premiership: Five Substitutes Approved For The Rest of 2019-20 Season

South Africa Premier Soccer League teams will be able to make five substitutions, rather than three, in each match to the end of the season.

Teams will also be able to name nine substitutes instead of the usual seven in the team list that will now be having 20 players instead of 18.

Premier Soccer League football will return on Saturday, 8 August after a three-month absence. Nedbank Cup semi-finals will be the first fixtures on the new calendar.

A statement from PSL indicates the first match will be a clash between Bloemfontein Celtic and Baroka FC at Orlando Stadium in Soweto at 1400h.

It will be followed by the second semi-final, Mamelodi Sundowns vs Bidvest Wits at 1915h at the same venue.

On Sunday, the GladAfrica Championship will kick off with two fixtures: Real Kings against Cape Umoya at Tsakane Stadium and Richards Bay against TS Sporting at TUKS Stadium. Both fixtures will be at 1530h.

Though teams can now make five substitutions, each will only have three opportunities to make changes throughout the match in order to minimise disruption to the game.

If both teams make substitutions at the same time, this counts as a used “opportunity” for both teams, whereas in a cup game unused substitutions and opportunities are carried into extra time.

PSL statement adds that teams will get an additional substitute and an additional substitution opportunity in extra time, taking the total of subs to 6 and opportunities to 4, while substitutions made before extra time and during half time of extra time don’t count as a lost opportunity.

There are six Premier Soccer League games remaining for most sides, although teams like Sundowns and Bidvest Wits still have nine league matches to play.