The aim of the study is to discover a protocol of when teams will make the substitutions in relation to the match status at that current time the substitution was made. The purpose of this paper is to focus on the use of the new substitution rule and how that may impact the timings of substitutions in relation to match status.
Institutional ethical approval was granted. There are 237 observations of substitution patterns in the current 22/23 season. The two variables that will be focused on in this study will be match status, and timings of substitution within the match. To detect significant differences analysis of variance with one-way ANOVA was used.
Teams that made 3 substitutions are more likely to draw or win (48% or 43%) than if they substitute less or more than 3 substitutes. Managers tend to make substitutions later in the game when in a winning position, and earlier when in a losing position (P<0.01) Managers should be aware that timings of substitution are critical to manage or improve a game. And that when in a losing position, they need to make a decision to substitute earlier to make an impact on the score line.