Qatar 2022: FIFA Approves 26 Players for Teams

FIFA has approved the increase of players for teams participating at this year’s FIFA World Cup to at least 23 and a maximum of 26.

The world football body said the reason for the adjustment was to “retain additional flexibility due to the unique timing of the FIFA World Cup 2022™ in the global calendar, as well as the broader context of the disruptive effects caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on squads before and during tournaments.”

The number of players increased from 22 to 23 at the 2002 edition that held in South Korea and Japan and has remained so until now.

Some other adjustments include the increased number of players on the release list from 35 to 55 which will then be reduced to a maximum of 26.

Last week football’s rules body, IFAB, also approved the permanent use of five substitutes for all top-level matches and said teams can now name 15 substitutes on a team sheet instead of 12.

The Qatar 2022 World Cup is set to hold between November 21 and December 18 2022.

Vanguard/Maxwell Oyekunle