How Many Substitutes in Soccer? Windows, Concussion Subs and the New 10-Second Rule

In an official soccer (association football) competition, a team may use up to five substitutes, and the competition decides the exact number. Where five are permitted in a top-division club competition or a senior international match, they have to be made in no more than three stoppages — "substitution opportunities" — plus half-time. Extra time can add one more, a concussion protocol can add another, and friendlies play by looser rules.

That is the position under the 2026/27 edition of the IFAB Laws of the Game, in force since 1 July 2026, and specifically Law 3 – The Players. The same edition added a ten-second limit for a substituted player to leave the field. Everything else about substitutions is either fixed by that Law or handed to competition organisers, and telling the two apart is the key to reading any competition's rules.

The numbers, situation by situation

What counts as a substitution opportunity

The three-opportunity cap counts stoppages, not players. Law 3 spells out how they are counted:

• several substitutions, and requests for them, in the same stoppage use one opportunity;
• if both teams substitute at the same time, it counts as a used opportunity for both;
• changes at half-time do not use an opportunity;
• nor do changes between the end of normal time and the start of extra time, or at half-time of extra time.

A worked example

Assume a cup tie between top-division first teams, in a competition that allows five substitutes plus one extra in extra time, so the three-opportunity cap applies. Team A's coach:

Team A goes into extra time with one normal opportunity still in hand as well as the additional one, because the full-time change cost nothing. Had the coach made that fifth change in the 88th minute instead, it would have used the third and last normal opportunity, leaving only the additional one for extra time. Batching changes, using the breaks and keeping an opportunity in reserve are the whole craft of the three-window rule.

A substitution, step by step

Substitutes must be named to the referee before kick-off; anyone not named cannot take part. To make a change under the 2026/27 text:

1. The referee is told before the substitution is made.
2. The player coming off gets the referee's permission (unless already off the field) and leaves at the nearest point on the boundary line, unless the referee lets them leave at the halfway line or elsewhere for safety or injury.
3. They must be off within ten seconds of the substitution board being shown, or of the referee's signal where there is no board. With several changes in one stoppage, the ten seconds run from the last one.
4. The substitute enters at the halfway line, during a stoppage, after the other player has left and after the referee's signal.

The substitution is complete when the substitute steps onto the field. From that moment they are a player and can take any restart, and the replaced player is a "substituted player" who goes to the technical area or dressing room.

If the departing player takes longer than ten seconds, the time-limited substitution protocol applies: they must still leave, play restarts without the substitute, and the substitute may enter only at the first stoppage after one minute of running clock. The substitution cannot be cancelled or switched to someone else. The player is cautioned only for an excessive delay, and the referee may waive the limit when injury or safety makes it impossible. A player who simply refuses to leave does not stop the match: play continues.

Concussion substitutes

Following approval at the 138th IFAB Annual General Meeting on 2 March 2024, competitions may use the additional permanent concussion substitutions protocol. Where a competition adopts it:

• each team may use one concussion substitute per match, whatever it has already used;
• the replaced player takes no further part, including in a penalty shoot-out;
• the opposing team is then offered one additional substitute and one additional opportunity, for any reason;
• a concussion change does not use a normal opportunity, unless a normal substitution is made at the same moment;
• once a team has used all its normal opportunities, it cannot dress a normal change up as a concussion one.

The protocol keeps referees out of the medical decision: match officials must not decide whether an injury qualifies, and they report concerns about misuse to the appropriate authorities. This article describes a procedure, not a medical standard — whether a player is fit to continue is for medical staff.