Serie A approves 12-man benches

By Football Italia staff

Serie A teams will be allowed to have 12 players on the bench from this season, announced the FIGC.

The change in rules was confirmed by the Federation after a request from the Lega Serie A and President Maurizio Beretta.

This gives clubs the opportunity to hand a list of 23 players to the referee before a match in Serie A, the Coppa Italia, Italian Super Cup or Primavera youth league.

“This decision for the ‘long bench’ is something I have always fought for and finally we achieved it,” said Palermo President Maurizio Zamparini.

“It is a choice dictated by common sense and it’s about time we got here. This way we will no longer have frustrated players, as all of them will feel involved in the match.

“Just look at Palermo. We have two players for every role, so we can only benefit from this new development.”

Roma boss Zdenek Zeman is more ‘old school’ about having seven players on the bench.

“It doesn’t change much for me, as in my experience a total squad of 18 is sufficient.”

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