Premier League substitution rules: five subs, three windows

A team can spend its three windows on just three players. Try the grouped plan and the four-stoppage plan to see why the two limits produce different answers.

One change at 30 minutes, one at 60 and one at 75, all at separate stoppages, uses three players and all three windows. A further normal change at 85 minutes is blocked, even though two of the five-player allowance remain. The bench can still contain several players who have not appeared.

Now group the changes: two players at 60 minutes, two at 75 and one at 85. That uses five players in three windows and stays within both limits. It explains why a manager may prepare a double or triple change together. It does not show whether the tactical decision is a good one.

The planner treats each timed row as a different stoppage and checks rows in order. A blocked batch is rejected in full, so its players and window are not added to the counters. You can reduce that row yourself to test a smaller batch. This is a counting lesson for normal changes, not a simulation of medical decisions or a referee approving part of a substitution request.

A match feed's minute labels are less precise than these examples. Two entries marked 75 minutes could come from one stoppage or separate stoppages within that minute. You need the actual sequence or official record before counting them as one window.

For 2026/27, each team may name up to nine substitutes and normally bring on five of them. Nine is the size of the available bench; five is the normal limit on players used from it. A place on the team sheet does not guarantee an appearance. The Premier League has used the five-substitute arrangement since 2022/23.

Each team also has three substitution opportunities during the two halves, usually called windows. An in-play window means a stoppage during a half: players do not change while the ball is in play. Two or three substitutions by the same team at one stoppage use two or three players but only one window.

Count both limits separately, for each team. Having an unused window does not allow a sixth normal substitute. Having unused substitutes does not create a fourth window. Half-time sits outside the window limit, and the concussion protocol can create specific additional allowances; neither is a general permission to ignore the rules.

For an ordinary change, the referee must be informed. The substitute enters at the halfway line, during a stoppage, after the departing player has left and the referee has signalled permission. The substitution is completed when the replacement enters. The ten-second exit procedure below adds a consequence when the departing player delays that process.

Half-time changes count towards the five players but not towards the three windows. If a team makes two changes at the interval and none before it, three normal substitutes and all three in-play windows remain. Both allowances apply to the whole match; they do not reset when the second half begins.

A half-time substitution must be completed before play restarts. A change during the first stoppage of the second half is an in-play change. A feed labelling both as 46 minutes is not enough to tell them apart.

When both teams make normal substitutions at the same stoppage, each uses one of its own windows. The opposition stopping to make a change does not give your team a free one. If your team brings on two players and the opposition brings on one, the window cost is one for each team; the player cost is two for yours and one for theirs.

Multiple changes and requests by the same team during that single stoppage count as one opportunity. Once play restarts, a later stoppage is a new opportunity. An injury stoppage or a long delay does not itself provide an extra normal window.

Read the official bench alongside the recorded on-events. The bench answers who was selected as a substitute; an on-event answers who is recorded as entering the match. The completed-match example below keeps those two facts together.

A player can be named among the nine without playing. A player who does come on can later be substituted themselves, so two different on-events do not necessarily mean two original starters left the pitch. The total number of names in a match report is not a reliable substitute for the actual substitution record.

If you have selected a club, the example looks for that club's checked bench. Otherwise it uses an available completed match. Read the fixture and kick-off date: this is a historical example, which may be older than the club's most recent match. If no qualifying example is available for your club, the guide leaves that gap visible.

An entry shown links a named bench player to a recorded appearance. No entry shown leaves participation unresolved because records can be missing, incomplete or ambiguous. Equal minute labels do not establish a window, and the example does not infer a replacement pair, a concussion classification or the manager's reason. The full match events and source links let you inspect what was recorded.

The additional permanent concussion protocol is the main exception to the normal five. Each team may use one concussion substitute for a player with concussion or suspected concussion, even if its normal player allowance or windows have been exhausted. This change does not use a normal substitute or a normal window. The player replaced cannot return to the match.

Using a concussion substitute also gives the opposing team the option of one additional substitute for any reason, with one additional opportunity. The opponent may take that option at the same stoppage or later. That extra opportunity is reserved for its additional substitute; it cannot be used to bring on a remaining normal substitute after the team's three normal windows have gone.

The two entitlements are separate. A team can use its own concussion replacement and also receive an additional substitute because the opposition used theirs. If both teams use the protocol, each can potentially bring on five normal substitutes, one concussion substitute and one opponent-entitlement substitute. That is why six is not a universal maximum.

An ordinary change alongside a concussion replacement still uses the normal allowance and, during a half, a normal window. A team that has exhausted its normal windows cannot attach an ordinary change to its concussion substitution to get around that limit.

The team must notify the match officials that it is using the protocol. Do not classify a change from an apparent injury, an unusually high count or two identical minute labels. This is a defined concussion provision, not an extra replacement for any injury. The planner above intentionally counts normal substitutions only.

An ordinary injury does not restore a used allowance. If a team has used all five normal substitutes, or all three windows during the halves, it cannot make another normal change simply because someone is hurt. If that player cannot continue and no applicable exception permits a replacement, the team has to play short.

A player sent off after kick-off cannot be replaced to restore eleven. If the goalkeeper is dismissed, a reserve goalkeeper may replace an outfield player when the team's remaining substitution allowances permit. The team still has one fewer player: bringing on a goalkeeper does not undo the red card.

Before kick-off, the position is different. A named starter sent off after the team list has been submitted may be replaced by a named substitute, without reducing the permitted number of in-match substitutions. That substitute's bench place cannot be refilled. A named substitute sent off before or after kick-off cannot be replaced on the list.

A player who has been substituted cannot come back on in a Premier League match. A substitute who has entered can be taken off, but bringing another player on for them is a further substitution against the applicable allowance. A player temporarily leaving for treatment has not necessarily been substituted; their permitted return is a separate procedure.

For 2026/27, the departing player normally has ten seconds to leave once the substitution board is shown, or the referee signals the change if no board is used. They should leave by the nearest point on the boundary unless the referee directs otherwise. If the referee is checking the substitute's equipment at halfway, the countdown starts after that inspection and the signal to make the change.

If several substitutions happen at one stoppage, all departing players must be off within ten seconds of the final change being indicated. The signals must not be deliberately spread out to extend the time. This concerns completing the changes promptly; it does not create another window or increase the five-player allowance.

When the limit is exceeded, the outgoing player must still leave and play restarts without the replacement. The substitute can enter only at the first stoppage after one minute has elapsed from that restart, and only with the referee's signal. The minute uses a running clock. It is not measured from the board going up, and the substitute cannot simply run on when sixty seconds have passed while the ball is still in play.

For example, suppose play restarts at 75:00 after a delayed exit. If the ball remains in play until 76:20, the replacement must wait for that stoppage and the referee's permission. The team can therefore be a player short for longer than one minute. The delayed change cannot be cancelled or switched to a different substitute.

The referee can allow for an injury that prevents a prompt exit or a safety or security problem. The protocol also allows the replacement to enter when the departing player is very close to, or crossing, the boundary as the countdown ends. Exceeding ten seconds is not an automatic yellow card; a caution applies if the delay is excessive. These judgments belong to the officials, so a broadcast clock or an event minute alone cannot establish a breach.

No. Added time is part of the half, so a normal change at 90+5 uses the same remaining player and window allowances as one at 85 minutes. The extra minutes on the board do not give a team a sixth normal substitute or a fourth window.

Premier League matches can finish level and do not go into a separate period of extra time to decide a winner. Cup competitions may have additional-substitute provisions for extra time. Check that competition's rules rather than applying a cup allowance to a league match.

To understand the match you are watching, ask who was named on the bench, who is recorded as coming on, and which substitution provision was used. To assess the next starting XI, move on to current team news and the lineup forecast. An appearance from the bench today does not guarantee a start next time.