XtraTime Web Desk: India to play in next year’s AFC Asian Cup for the first time since 2011 and the tournament to get a new rule when it will get underway next season.
Next year’s AFC Asian Cup will allow a fourth substitute when games go to extra time, the Asian Football Confederation announced on Friday.
The move follows a change to the official Laws of the Game, which was also implemented at this year’s FIFA World Cup in Russia.
“I am confident the new regulations will add to the excitement of Asia’s flagship national team competition and further strengthen the AFC’s ambitions to be the world’s leading Confederation,” AFC president Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim Al Khalifa said in a statement.
The same rule will also apply at the AFC U19 Championships, starting next week in Indonesia, as well as next year’s AFC U19 Women’s Championship and the AFC U23 Championship in Thailand in 2020, the AFC said.
In July, Russia midfielder Aleksandr Erokhin became the first player to come on as the fourth substitute at a World Cup when the host went to extra time against Spain.
The AFC has also said it is considering using Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology “at some stage” at the Asian Cup in the United Arab Emirates, which starts on January 5.