Sven wants more substitutes

Updated 09.29 Mon Nov 05 2007

Keywords: substitutes, sven-goran eriksson, manchester city, premier league, football, sport

Substitute-lover Sven-Goran Eriksson wants more players on the bench at Premier League matches.

During Eriksson's spell as England manager, he was criticised for making too many substitutions during friendlies.

"If we could have seven players on the bench it would be much better" - Sven-Goran Eriksson

He sometimes replaced all 11 players and law-makers Fifa responded by changing the laws, imposing a limit of six substitutions during international friendlies.

Now Eriksson wants the Premier League to emulate the Scottish Premier League, Champions League and many domestic competitions around Europe by allowing clubs to name seven substitutes.

He said: "When you have say 23 players, who are working hard, it is bad when you have to omit them on match day.

"Everyone wants to be on the pitch but it would help if we could change the rules on substitutes. If we could have seven players on the bench, it would be much better."

Even if the Premier League allows seven substitutes, managers would still be limited to three changes per match, as that is the Fifa for limit for competitive matches.

Substitutes were first allowed by the Football League in 1965 and the number of players on the bench has risen steadily.